Lovely Mask
by AnimeGirls9194
Summary: Kagome and Kikyo decide to make a dare after wearing masks through their lives: Kagome's to become 'popular' and Kikyo's to recover or lose love. And Inuyasha has to deal with both of them. IxK, MxS, AxK please R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Deal, Dare

**Another of the many stories by AnimeGirls and No Name, thank you for reading** _**Lovely Mask **_**and I hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha**

"Kagome, can you come over here and help?"

"Sure, just wait a mo," said a girl, appearing from behind the thick bushes of pink and white hydrangeas.

She was a young teenage girl of sixteen years of age holding a pair of dirty gloves to her chest. She was beautiful with a slim but curved figure, clad in a skirt that fell to her knees designed with the intricate patterns of tree branches woven together and adorned with sakura blossoms. Her top consisted of a short-sleeved shirt, collars separated by the unbuttoned divide in her shirt to reveal the white tank-top beneath.

But her face only added to her beauty and body with her unmarred peach skin that darkened to cherry red at her lips and pale pink at her cheeks. She had wide, shining hazel eyes full of youth and life, and she had thick, wavy dark hair that fell half-way down her back. This was Kagome Higurashi.

Kagome tossed her dirty gloves into a wicker basket laid atop the loamy soil and said, "What do you need help with, Kikyo?"

"Oh," said Kikyo, releasing a strained breath as she clutched a bouquet of colorful flowers bursting in her arms, "Can you get these gladioli and convolvuli into a vase? I can't hold onto them any longer."

"Sure," said Kagome and hurried over. Her sandals sank into the soft soil like bare feet into wet sand as she walked across the garden over to her twin sister.

Kagome hurriedly took the bunch of flowers from Kikyo's arms and hugged them to her as Kikyo let out a sigh of relief, saying, "thanks," and softly smiled.

Kikyo was as, if not more, beautiful when she smiled. Because they were twins, Kikyo and Kagome both shared one another's beauty, although they differed; Kikyo had the beauty of an elegant, lovely woman's rather than Kagome's of a blooming young girls.

Kikyo wore a loose tank-top the color of spring green that held true to her soft hazel eyes. She wore a light skirt that fell half-way down her knees and molded into the shape of her round hips and long, graceful legs.

But her face, like Kagome's, completed her beauty with unblemished, pale skin in the exception of her plum-colored lips and tinted cheeks. Over her eyes fell even, dark bangs and dark hair that fell to her waist, shimmering and straight as it was streaked by the sunlight midnight blue.

Kagome placed the bouquet in a vase of icy cold water and ran a dirty hand over her brow as a sign of exhaustion, succeeding in streaking her forehead in a long, brown smudge.

"Is it always this hot during autumn?" She complained, sitting down on a stone step.

Kikyo smiled at Kagome's weariness and answered, "When you're working like this, yeah."

"Then why are we working like this?" Kagome asked her sister beneath the hydrangea bushes' shade on top of one of the uncovered stone slabs.

Kikyo looked at Kagome for a moment and then stood up, letting her skirt fall down her legs after hitching it up her knees to avoid smudging it.

"Well," she said, "we need to sell flowers at the shop, remember? How else are we supposed to earn money?"

"But in autumn?" said Kagome wearily.

"Yes, in autumn too," said Kikyo, laughing at her sister's mocking three-year-old-ness.

"But it's just too darn hot to work today," she said, throwing her hair off of her neck glistening with sweat and onto her shoulder. "How can it be this warm in autumn, for god's sake?"

"The thing is, Kagome, it's not that warm," said Kikyo, "You just get hot easily. And if this weather bothers you nearly sleeveless, **how do you** go around school in that thick, woolen sweater all the time?"

Kagome froze at Kikyo's sentence, looking at her sister's disbelieving look. Then she said, stammering and tripping on her words, "W-well, it's—it's always so cold a-at school."

When Kikyo's look persisted, Kagome added unconvincingly, "Well, i-it is! The air conditioning is always below zero there or something…and don't look at me like that!"

"'Like' what?" Kikyo asked.

"'Like' that!" said Kagome and mirrored Kikyo's look by pursing her lips as they edged towards the right, crossing her arms loosely and her eyes as if an artist looking at an unsatisfactory painting.

Kikyo, after looking at her sister's flawless impersonation, couldn't help but let loose a light giggle and drop her look.

"Okay… but you'd look like that too if your sister said it was too hot in autumn, yet wears two pounds of wool on her body in a heated building."

Kagome had to admit she would have but she wouldn't tell Kikyo that and instead lied, saying, "I would not!"

Then Kikyo's 'look' reappeared as she heard Kagome and she said sarcastically, "Sure you wouldn't."

"Yes, I wouldn't!' Kagome unsuccessfully insisted and said, "Look, you're doing it again!"

"What am I doing?" Kikyo asked mockingly innocent.

"Your 'look', the one you're wearing right now!" said Kagome determinedly.

"I'm not wearing any look," said Kikyo as she turned on her heel.

Kikyo wore this look a lot, especially when she heard her twin sister Kagome, six-year-old sister Kaede, eight-year-old brother Sota, or anybody close to her lie….or when she was putting the finishing touches on a bouquet in the shop. It was this look Kikyo wore and Kagome saw most of when her twin sister when school was discussed. Kagome always hated this look; it never failed to penetrate her lies and insecure thoughts.

"Don't lie to me, just because I don't use the 'look' doesn't mean I can't tell when you're lying either!" said Kagome as she looked at her sister's back.

And this as well was true. Even though it wasn't as affective as the 'look', Kagome could tell through the long bond she and Kikyo shared when her twin sister was lying or uncomfortable. Kikyo could tell this as well, which made Kagome especially annoyed because she also had the affective 'look'.

Kagome, after receiving no answer, firmly crossed her arms and said, "I know you're doing it, Kikyo, I can tell!"

"Really?" said Kikyo, turning her head over her shoulder to eye Kagome.

"Yes," said Kagome forcefully, "even when you're not wearing it, I know when you're thinking it."

"Well, can you?" said Kikyo mockingly.

"Yes, I can," said Kagome mockingly back.

"Like when?" Kikyo asked her sister, facing her with her arms akimbo and her lips pursed.

Kagome had the perfect example, "like during school," she said to her, "whenever you turn to face me, that look plays across your face."

"And for that there is a good reason!" said Kikyo, "You'd look like that too if you saw me like that, silently avoiding people and sitting with your thick sweater and messily strewn hair."

Kagome only looked at Kikyo and knew she was yet again correct…but… "You wouldn't do that!" said Kagome. "I know you wouldn't!"

"Even if I don't, you'd look at your sister like that too." said Kikyo insistently.

"Well…" said Kagome, searching for words and items she could use against her sister. She racked her brain and memory, searching while her sister looked at her patiently. Then she thought of something she could remember only vaguely as she silently watched Kikyo at school from afar, alone as Kikyo smiled at the many people surrounding her and she said, "There are moments where I would but don't look at you like that, even though you would yourself!"

Kikyo looked at Kagome curiously for a moment and then asked, "Really? When would I?"

"When you're surrounded by all those people!" said Kagome, looking at her sister as her expression suddenly changed, "All the time when you where that smile and when you're with Inuyasha."

Kagome felt the words leave her lips and observed Kikyo's expression suddenly change from mocking curiosity to blankness and Kagome knew what had been done.

Kagome and Kikyo said nothing more as they blankly stared at one another, thinking the same thoughts. School…

They rarely talked about it amongst one another with the exception of homework and drastic changes, but beyond that they said nothing about it. And the reason was that for both Higurashi twins, the subject was not painful, not extremely if, but it brought up nothing but a pregnant silence that would measurably last and both twins, only the two twins Kagome and Kikyo, knew why.

…

Kagome stared out of the window, looking through the glass pane to gaze at the cherry blossom tree branch rubbing against it its dying petals and blossoms. The autumn season put her in a dream-like state, during the time she would pursue a faint daze. But she never minded it or noticed the brief stares of her classmates; for the only one who would awake her would be Kikyo.

"Now," said Kagura, cutting into Kagome's dreamy state with her sharp, feminine tones, "your assignment will be to read all of Lady Murasaki Shikibu's _The Tale of Genji_ by Saturday, the class later that day discussing the novel afterwards."

Then, closing her hand on the novel's thick spine and lifting it before the class, said, "Now, that's all for Literature. Class dismissed."

Kagome's daze was shattered by the bell resonating through her thoughts, the class ending. Sailor-suit clad and black-suit clad students rose noisily from their desks as the bell's ring ended and lunch began.

She could hear chatter emerge between classmates as they walked outside of the classroom, grouping together.

Kagome and Kikyo had left the garden when the morning was still fresh with the scent of dewy grass and dying plants and had left the house in their uniforms and bags slung over their shoulders. Their house existed on the edge of the small city by an old ancestral shrine and a vast garden, not a long distance from the school building and grounds as the city shone before it. Kikyo and Kagome had to race across the asphalt roads and cement streets beneath the breaking shadows of the autumn trees to barely make it through the closing gates of the school and the opened door of class as school began.

Kagome could remember their conversation in the garden before they had raced through the streets and sat in their desks in the school. She could recall it as she could vaguely see the class leave the classroom, together in groups, laughing amongst them, leaving her alone in the room. She could remember as the vision of her sister Kikyo appeared in her sight at the front of the classroom, smiling softly and barely visible within the crowd of people surrounding her and talking to her, being with her.

And Kagome could remember it as she rose from her seat, without a word or someone to greet her and as she made her way to the opened door, alone.

School…it was a subject the Higurashi twins did not like to bring up and Kagome could remember why as people passed her by, together and smiling, without her, passing her, and leaving her in solitude.

She wore her usually wavy, long hair into a tangled bun at the back of her head, her bangs strewn across her face and her hair falling from the elastic band in which it was kept, looking as if it had been arranged in the wind and was tangled and tousled. Her face was unmoving or smiling as she passed through the hall with her bag bouncing dully at her side. She wore a thick, plain green sweater over her top that fell reached half-way down her green, plaited skirt. She could hear her school shoes padding on the floor over her long, black socks that climbed up to her knees as she made her way without anybody or wanting anybody.

As she reached the school grounds and the soft, green grass, Kagome saw people eating their food together, often sharing of trading a piece of bread or an onigiri. Kagome knew why school was rarely talked about between herself and Kikyo and was reminded numbly as she sat and withdrew her lunch from her bag alone.

At their peaceful shrine home, Kikyo and Kagome were always close, always together and always regarded as the same twin daughters of Kira Higurashi, but at school they were as far apart as could be.

Kikyo was everything: she was beautiful with her heavenly being, she was wise and she was gentle and kind. Everybody loved her, the perfect daughter, classmate and student. Kagome knew this, she was reminded of her sister's perfection everyday as crowds of schoolgirls and male class mates grouped around her and admired her. Kikyo was flawless as she was adored by them. She was perfect as her parents complimented and congratulated her. She was everything Kagome wanted to be, but feared to try to become.

And then there was Kagome. As Kagome looked down on herself she was reminded of who and what she was. While Kikyo was kind, beautiful, and wise, Kagome was just there. Kikyo's younger sister, who looked vaguely like Kikyo, but couldn't live up to her older sister's reputation.

Kagome lived as the secluded, unnoticed schoolgirl ever since school had begun from kindergarten to high school, shy, quite while Kikyo bloomed to anyone and was the social butterfly. And ever since then, Kikyo's popularity had flourished, as did Kagome's secluded state. The perfect Kikyo's imperfect double. Kikyo's extra, the defective extra. She was just the imperfect double, Kagome Higurashi, of her perfect sister, Kikyo.

Kagome thought of this as she drew a rice ball form her backpack and sat on the green grass, surrounded by smiling, laughing, talking groups of people, while she ate and remained alone.

…

"Oh, you're lucky, you've got yakisoba!"

"Well, I can't help that you've got standard issue slop."

"All I've got is sweet bean jam and bread."

"What about you, Kikyo?"

"Oh," said Kikyo, sitting back against the railing as she drew her lunch from her pale green backpack, "I've got some onigiri and a juice box."

Kikyo was sitting on the school rooftop, a popular place for students to eat lunch and look at the view of the school grounds and other students below. She was surrounded by people, a group of girls around her and talking amongst one another as they ate their lunch. Kikyo could feel the plastic wrapping around her rice ball clutch its sticky texture and slide against the smoothness of her palm.

"Well," said a girl with long, dark brown hair pulled back into a high ponytail, with the exception of the short locks of hair framing her face and sitting on her legs folded beneath her, "its better than what I've got."

"I wish I had rice balls," said another girl whiney and wistfully, with bright red hair pulled into two pigtails and shining green eyes as she clutched the rectangular, paper box holding her fried noodles with her chopsticks poking out of her mouth as she held their tips between her teeth.

"I wish I had what you have!" said another girl, her voice young but strong with dark hair falling to her shoulders. "I've got…slop, just slop."

"Well, Rin," said the dark-haired girl with the ponytail, tearing a chunk of her bread in her hands and looking at the other girl she had just addressed, "How about you have some of my bread and Kikyo gives you a rice ball? Then you'll have at least something decent to eat."

"Can I, Sango?" said the girl, Rin, turning wide, pleading eyes to the dark-haired girl.

"If Kikyo lets you, sure," said the girl, Sango, and she handed a chunk of bread to Rin.

"Of course," said Kikyo warmly and gave Rin two rice balls into her lap as she held the thick chunk of soft bread in her hands.

Rin's eyes widened graciously and she said, deeply bowing her head to Kikyo and Sango, "Thanks you so much, Kikyo-sama and Sango-sama!"

Kikyo smiled softly at Rin while Sango put her hand on her shoulder, saying, "its okay, Rin. You don't need to do that, just eat before you starve yourself."

Rin was more than happy to oblige as she tore a chunk of the thick bread in her mouth and sunk her teeth into the rice ball in her hand.

Kikyo watched, smiling, as the girls around her ate and spoke to one another and felt her heart sink as she observed them. Her smile, so kind and gentle…yet so false and deceiving as she closed her eyes so kindly at them. Everything about her smile, her appearance was like a disguise, her face like a mask, a mask of gentle kindness with a warm smile, gently closed eyes, and a soft face.

"Hey, Kikyo," said the dark-haired girl, Rin, taking Kikyo out of her thoughts with her teasing voice, saying, "look, over there."

And Kikyo's eyes followed the pointing finger of Rin as it led her to a group of students clad in black uniforms, some sitting and others standing against the railing, discussing something as they ate. But Rin's finger was pointing to something in the crowd…or someone. And Kikyo knew, as her eyes found their way past Rin's fingertip, what was being directed to.

A boy who looked about eighteen years of age, with a strong face set with unusually golden eyes partially covered by his wild, silvery bangs. His long white-blonde hair fell down his back to his black pant-clad waist, his figure leaning against the rooftop's railing. Kikyo knew, with numb recognition, who this boy was and felt her face suddenly drop its mask at his sight.

"It's your boyfriend, Inuuu----Yaaa-----shaaa," said Rin, emphasizing the boy's being as she elongated the syllables of his name. "He's over there with Koga and the others. I didn't know that he ate lunch on the rooftop."

"Do you want to eat with him, Kikyo?" asked the red-haired girl, Ayame, as she watched Kikyo's face.

Kikyo, realizing she had dropped it, concealed her face once again in the mask she always wore in school and around her superiors, saying as she did so, "…no, its fine, Ayame."

"Are you sure?" Ayame asked, slightly concernedly, "after all, he is your boyfriend. We can wait to talk to you later if you wa—"

"Kikyo said its fine, Ayaa," said Rin, cutting into her friends permission, "I mean, Inuyasha is her boyfriend, he shouldn't make Kikyo come over there; he should come over here!"

"I guess you're right," said Ayame, twisting her yakisoba around her chopsticks like spaghetti around a fork.

Rin chewed the rice of her rice ball, saying assertively, "Of course I am. Kikyo shouldn't need to be surrounded by all those…_guys! _Inuyasha should come over here to eat with her."

"Its fine, Rin," said Kikyo, smiling softly. "Inuyasha…I mean its fine."

"Are you sure?" said Rin, chewing on her lump of bread. "I mean, you guys are still together, right?"

Kikyo was silent for a moment, and then said, "Yes, but its fine. Really, don't worry about it."

"Kikyo…" said Sango silently, collecting the attention of her friends surrounding her. Then, as she caught the gazes of Rin and Ayame, she said, "…never mind, its nothing…you're right, it's fine, I mean, Inuyasha can eat with whom he pleases."

Rin laid her down food, saying as she did so, "Fine, if Kikyo says so." Then she turned to Kikyo, saying a bit huffily, "but still, _he is your boyfriend_."

"It's fine," said Kikyo, smiling gently, "It really is, Rin, you don't have to worry about it."

"Yeah…I guess so," said Rin, rather disappointedly as her friend softly smiled. And she tucked her legs, folded close to her chest, in her arms as she looked into the sky above her, pale blue and painted with the smudgy clouds swirling with its depths. Then she whipped her head around back to the group of girls around her, saying loudly, "Well, if Inuyasha doesn't come, than at least _Koga_ should!"

Sango looked rather surprised at Rin's next sentence, Kikyo's eyes opened as she leaned back, and the group merely looked at their hyper friend.

"W-why…why d-do you say that?" said Ayame, stammering as her face turned steadily red and her voice became small and frantic.

"Well," said Rin, in an all knowing voice as she turned to her red-haired friend, "Isn't it obvious? If Kikyo's Inuyasha won't come, than at least Ayaa's Koga should! I mean, aren't boyfriends supposed to follow their girlfriends wherever they go, right?"

"Rin!" Ayame yelled, shrilly, as her face redden close to the color of her dark hair and she looked more frantic than ever.

"Well," said Rin indignantly, "It's true! If Inuyasha's not here than Koga should be!"

Then, to Ayame's horror and the surprise of Sango and Kikyo, Rin stood up suddenly and turned towards the boys, and all the girls knew what she was preparing to do. Rin determinedly lifted her hand to her mouth and, taking in a deep breath that caused her chest to drastically puff out, and began to shout out, "HEY, GUYS—"

But before Rin could finish, Ayame leapt on her and forced her to the ground, her hand firmly placed over her mouth as she began to desperately squirm. Sango watched nervously as Ayame disabled Rin and then cast a look to the black-clad boys, also nervously watching as the two girls struggled against one another.

The girls stopped kicking each other as Ayame breathed, her face still flushed, "What did you think you were doing?!"

Rin struggled to remove Ayame's hand firmly clasped over her mouth, saying as she breathed heavily, "What do you think I was doing? I was calling the guys over here, especially my Ayaa's Kog—"

But as these words greeted Ayame's ears, her face deeply reddened and she slapped another hand over her friend's mouth, hissing desperately and frantically as she did so, "Shut up, and shut up! He is not 'Ayaa's' Koga, do you understand? He is just Koga, not my Koga!"

But Rin didn't seem to have heard these words as she strained her hand over Ayame's again and desperately removed the pale palm from over her lips. Ayame fell back and Rin kneeled on the ground, her hands clutching the floor as she barely said, "I…can't bre-breathe…!"

Ayame, after tumbling to the ground, clutched the back of her throbbing head with tears in her eyes. She could feel her skull ache beneath her skin. Then she straightened up to see Rin, still on her hands and knees as he desperately gulped in the air. Then Rin shot up, jabbing her finger at Ayame an inch away from her nose and saying to her teary-eyed friend, "What…what did you do that for?! I almost suffocated!"

Ayame, examining through streaming eyes her own friends streaming eyes, deeply rising and falling chest, and her raspy speaking said, blushing and quietly, "…sorry, Rin…but…but I—"

"But what?" said Rin, still looking as if she were recovering from near suffocation, "you don't want your boyfriend over? God, Ayame, and I thought Sango was cruel—"

"But Koga's not my boyfriend!" said Ayame, not allowing her voice to become loud enough so that the boys could hear and then said, looking flustered and flushed, "He is not my boyfriend, Rin."

"Well," said Rin, composing herself so that she looked as calm as she could reach, "not yet, my redhead Ayaa. Not yet. But soon, he will very soon be your man, which I know, believe me."

But Ayame continued to look flustered and said, "Why do you say that?"

Rin turned to Ayame, looking stunned and offended as she put her hand over her chest and said, "Well, I'm not blind, first of all!"

"Please, tell us Rin," asked Sango courteously, encouraging Rin to breath deeply in as if about to tell a long and rather tedious tale.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" said Rin boastingly, "you and Koga have known one another since you were kids, you're two childhood sweethearts!"

But Rin didn't listen as Ayame blushingly whimpered, "Rin!" and continued with her love-life explanation, saying, "And its obvious to anyone that you two have the hot's for each other. You'll definitely end up together."

"I think it's a bit early to make assumptions, Rin," said Sango indifferently as she tore the soft dough of her loaf of bread.

"It's not an assumption!" said Rin indignantly, "it's a _true prediction_!"

"Of course it is," said Sango quietly to Kikyo and Ayame as Rin finished haughtily.

"Well, I'm sorry you have no interest in love affairs—" Rin started, but at this point Ayame eagerly closed her hand over her mouth and kept it shut.

As Rin's mouth was clamped shut of any speaking (or breathing, at that), Ayame was thrown over her as she toppled back. Rin desperately kicked at her as she grabbed Ayame's wrists ands tried to pry her hands free of her lower face, but Ayame firmly kept her hands down. Both Sango and Kikyo watched as the two girls tousled, Sango saying without attempt, "stop, you two, you don't want me to have to explain this situation at the nurses office."

Kikyo watched silently as her friends spoke, laughed, and played around, Ayame and Rin still struggling and beginning to giggle and Sango watching nervously from the sidelines. Kikyo leaned back against the railing, smiling so softly.

Friends, her friends, smiling with them, speaking with them, being with them.

_A lie in the form of a mask._

The smile she wore as soft as velvet, her eyes closed in playful bliss, and her silken voice, Kikyo knew they were all a lie. The people around her knew her…and yet they didn't. They knew the Kikyo that portrayed herself at school, around all other than Kagome. Only her twin sister knew the true her.

But Kikyo still thought of these people as her true friends, unafraid to be themselves around her; act themselves; give themselves to her. _If only I could be a true friend to you, _she thought sadly. But that wouldn't be her…yet it would.

Kikyo was perfect, flawless with her beauty, kindness, lightness, bliss, happiness, lenience, and nature. Or at least she appeared. Kikyo had grown to form herself in the nature those around her wanted her to be. She became everything they wanted from her. She had to be the perfect friend, the perfect daughter, the perfect sibling, the perfect relative, and the perfect lover.

She lived beneath that mask of perfection, never lifting it to show her true, ugly, grotesque form.

"_You're lucky Kagome,"_

_Kagome turned to her, curious and surprised as she planted the narcissi into the soft soil that spring before. _

"_What do you mean, Kikyo?" Kagome had asked, tilting her head so that it lay on her shoulder. _

"_I mean, you're naturally beautiful," Kikyo had said wistfully as she sadly smiled, "you're naturally beautiful the way you are, not the way people want you to be."_

_Kagome watched as Kikyo put her head down as she sat on the rippled grass-top table, saying sadly, "I'm…not beautiful like you are. Beneath this mask of flawlessness…is an ugly face, afraid of revealing itself to those around it, afraid to be unwanted, afraid to be uncared for, afraid to be feared of."_

_Kagome had listened and had heard the tears in Kikyo's voice as she continued, "I'm…just a grotesque form hidden beneath a mask of perfection," then Kikyo had lifted her opened hand before her downcast face and, feeling a wetness cross her cheek, saw through blurred vision, a diamond-like tear fleck her soft palm._

_Kagome watched painfully as Kikyo said, shoulders shaking, "I just don't get it…I-I re-really don't. I don't ge-get why you and Inuyasha…wou-would stay around me, the ugly me."_

_Then she turned to face Kagome, saying, "Aren't you…repelled by me, the real me? The one…be-beneath this mask?"_

_Kikyo began to softly cry and hugged her shoulders to herself, small tears rolling down her cheeks as she said, "I-I just don't get it."_

_Then, from the corner of her eye, Kikyo saw Kagome beside her, face smeared with dirt as she looked at her sister and then felt her hand fall on her shoulder._

"_That's where you're wrong, Kikyo," said Kagome as she clasped Kikyo's shoulder. "You are beautiful beneath the mask you where…more beautiful than the veil that hides you. You just can't see it."_

_Kikyo's tears stopped as she struggled to pull herself back together with Kagome's hand on her and heard her say, "…You just can't see it. Not yet. But people can see it…Inuyasha and I can. And I'm sure others will think you're beautiful too…if you just lift the mask."_

_And, to her surprise, Kikyo felt a wet droplet fleck her raven-hair in the form of Kagome's own tear. She didn't lift her head to see her sister's face as she faintly heard her say, "You're much more beautiful than you think, Kikyo. You just can't see it…but I can. There's a reason Inuyasha loves you…why he opened up his heart to you and why he still does. And I can see it…because I'm nowhere near as beautiful as you truly are, nowhere near."_

_Kikyo listened to Kagome's words softly, felt her only tear fade away in her touch, and felt herself fade away._

_And she thought; Kagome…you say I'm beautiful…but you are, much more than you think. And only I can see it. But you'll see it. Not yet, but soon._

Kikyo remembered that day when she and Kagome where in the garden that spring as she watched the girls around her playfully fight, laugh, bond, and be themselves. And she was reminded of her own inferiority to these girls as she watched them, still smiling ever so gently and her face soft.

And she remembered her thought that March day, as Kagome held her and spoke to her kind words, and she felt it was truer than ever before as the girls laughed with her, her 'friends'.

_Your kind words…I wish they were true and not this beautiful lie._

True…and not this beautiful lie.

Kikyo was awakened from her daze as she heard Sango say aloud as Ayame and Rin stopped fighting, "Hey, it's the bell! C'mon, we got to get to class!"

"What's next?" asked Ayame as she got up, patting her plait skirt.

Rin shuffled in her bag, pulling out small organizer and flipping through it. She stopped as she found a sheet and said, "Next is… Algebra and Math with Sesshomaru Takahashi-sensei,"

"You mean, 'Sesshomaru's class', don't you?" Ayame corrected her, laughing.

"No, I mean 'Sesshomaru-sensei's class'," said Rin firmly, turning to face Ayame as all of the girls stood up and turned to the small box in the center of the rooftop with its door ajar leading to long set of stairs leading into the school building.

"Why would you say that?" asked Rin as she placed the planner back into her bag swung beneath her shoulder and gently bouncing against her waist.

Ayame held the strap of her pale red notebook, touching her small, sailor-suit outfit clad uniform and said, "Well, why wouldn't I? You have known Takahashi-sensei since you were seven years old, yet you still call him Sesshomaru-sensei, even outside of school. Why?"

Rin was silent for a moment, looking slightly surprised and curiously at Ayame.

But Sango's interest was piqued as well as she asked, "Yes, Rin, you've been under Sesshomaru's roof since you were a young child, why do you still call him that?"

Rin paused for a moment as she was observed curiously by her friends, all staring at her with mildly interested expressions. Then she said, throwing back her thick, dark hair, "Well…its not that I don't think of him like someone close to me, I mean I do, but… he saved me as a young child from everything… loneliness, depression, death…there's no other way I can convey my respect for him."

Then Rin gently shut her eyes and said, the slight wind moving her dark tresses and the plaits of her deep green skirt, "I can't…thank him enough for what he did for me. He's done everything for me without asking for anything in return…"

And she opened her eyes and smiled and said brightly, "In a way…he is my sensei. I can't really explain it well, but that's how I feel for him. So to me he is Sesshomaru-sensei, here, outside of school…anywhere!"

And as Rin smiled, Kikyo could feel her own understanding of what she had said.

"Yeah," said Sango as the girls made their way towards the stairs into the school building. "I think I understand."

Rin smiled in reply and Kikyo could see the inside of the staircase as they approached the opened door.

"C'mon, we've lingered long enough!" said Sango and raced through the door, "If we don't hurry, we'll be late."

Sango disappeared behind the door and the girls could hear her footsteps padding against the stairs, running down.

"Wait for us, San!" said Rin and took Ayame's and Kikyo's wrists. Tugging them firmly, she pushed aside the door and the girls raced down the dark staircase leading into the school. But Kikyo was still deep in her won musings.

Takahashi…

Sesshomaru Takahashi…………………and Inuyasha Takahashi.

Kikyo felt a sudden plunge in her stomach as the name sped through her thoughts. Inuyasha… the very thought of his name brought a stab of emotion down on her. Why was she thinking of this now? Why would she continue…but why would she stop?

Kikyo numbly felt the surge of the moments as she registered insensibly the burst of light as they made their way down the stairs and into the hall. She could only vaguely spot the surroundings of closed class doors as Sango rushed ahead and Ayame and Rin commanded her slow down and wait for them. And the emotion all crashed down on her as she met a certain someone in the hall way, someone in a group of boys, clad in a black uniform with his white-blond hair falling un-kept down his shoulders and back.

But Inuyasha and Kikyo said nothing as their shoulders met in the form of a slight brush, rubbing gently against one another, and said nothing as they disconnected as Kikyo was tugged by her friends to make it into the algebra class on time.

_Disconnected…_

Why did she numbly feel running through the halls and hurriedly down the stairs, but feel every bit of his touch as she brushed against him? The folded texture of the dark uniform on his arm and shoulder, the slight space between it and the skin on his shoulder, why did she feel every bit of it when she numbly registered everything else around her? And why could she feel the emotions of loneliness, humanity, and love as she pulled away?

Kikyo and Inuyasha had been going out for half a year now, but they had liked each other for half a year before they had begun dating and were labeled as 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'.

Kikyo had loved him and he had loved her as they looked at one another, spoke to one another, touched on another, held each other, kissed—

At these words, why did Kikyo feel a rush of emotions overwhelm her and consume her like a flood of water overwhelming the land blow and utterly deluging it? Kikyo unconsciously held out her hand and clenched the fabric over the place of her heart, her fingers tightening over the light cloth. And she remembered.

Both she and Inuyasha had been running from something, running from something and taking shelter under a shell of falseness. They had both been running from humanity, all too human emotions and that was how they met. By lifting the masks they wore and revealing their true forms. And that was how they fell in love…

That was how they had fallen in love. But she remembered their shoulders brushing, their beings connecting…and disconnecting.

Kikyo had loved Inuyasha, but what remained of the love she didn't know. What was the feeling of love? Kikyo didn't know for sure, but she could recall the feelings of bliss as she was near Inuyasha, calling out his name, being called for by him, talking with him, and being with him. Those feelings of bliss she remembered as love…but the feelings she shared with him now were not the same. They did not strike her with the same bliss and joy she felt before, but a numb sensation of reminiscence and faint happiness… and pain.

Why had the feelings of joy when being around him fade, replaced by that of pain and loneliness…and lose? What was left?

What was love, Kikyo didn't know, but the ugly emotions that welled up inside her only left her with an empty sensation of loneliness she tried to hide and run away from. They kept on pretending, hoping that it wasn't true, and convincing themselves that it still existed.

The love before they shared.

But they both weren't sure what was left. What was first a loving embrace and a seldom but passionate kiss was now a dull touch and an insensible caress. What was first joy…was loneliness and pain. What was first love…they both didn't know what was left.

Kikyo tried to run away from those emotions, avoid the love that was now lost between them, and pretend to smile.

She ran away from those emotions and kept on telling herself that the love still glowed. But she didn't know anymore, whether it was lost waiting to be rediscovered or that it was no more. What was left in her hands?

And then they felt one another's touch and saw each other, knowing at their both connected hazel eyes what one another was thinking at the crowded door of the classroom.

Kikyo and Kagome both realized what was racing through their minds as they sat in their seats and the masks were set in place.

…

The bell rang at last as the day ended at Shikon High School. Kikyo hitched her backpack over her shoulder and reached the school grounds, the brilliant sunlight bleeding over her and the other school kids as well as the classmates surrounding her. Then she felt someone touch her shoulder, a warm and familiar touch and turned her head to see Sango's palms on her.

"Oh," she said and smiled, "hello. Are Rin or Ayame here with you?"

"Not yet," said Sango and adjusted the strap of her pack, "I think they're still fighting in the school over something. I guess I'll just beat Ayame home today and make dinner."

"Oh, yeah, you still live with Ayame and her family, don't you?" said Kikyo.

"Yeah," said Sango quietly and she turned her head slightly away from Kikyo.

Kikyo knew numbly, why this was so. These emotions of pain and loneliness, a bittersweet ending all filled her. Sango had loving parents and a gentle younger brother. They were all one happy family, in peace and bliss. Or at least, she once had all these things. Kikyo knew only vaguely in memory from the first and last time she had asked why Sango always accompanied Ayame home and arrived at school with her and from her house.

It was late that night, four years ago when the Ikehara family had been driving out from the city after eleven, nigh midnight. The children had been sleeping at this late night in the car, 12-year-old Sango beneath the restraints of her seatbelt and 8-year-old Kohaku in with his face pressed against the window. There were barely any cars in that late night as they rode through the darkness pinpricked with headlights, heading back into the near suburbs.

Then, a drunken truck driver had skidded through the rode and lost control of the vehicle, smashing into the Ikehara family car and killing the two parents as a result. Only the two children survived the truck smashed hard against the car roof, breaking through the metal, shattering the glass asunder as the children watched in horror their parents bloody bodies before them, the broken headlights sending shafts of light scattered everywhere and illuminating the diamond-like glass and rich, pooling blood. Sango was the only one who survived the crash when Kohaku died in the hospital from injuries and she was decided to live with Ayame's family for the rest of her childhood.

Kikyo remembered this but it only numbly hit her, as did everything sad and bitter. Than she was awoken from her thoughts as Rin's voice came, saying, "Hey, you two, over here!"

Sango and Kikyo saw Rin and Ayame heading towards them with their packs flying everywhere and hair bouncing.

"Oh, hello," said Kikyo, smiling as the two friends approached, "you two are back?"

"Yes," said Ayame, looking flushed and a bit flustered and Sango and Kikyo could tell what Rin and she had been arguing about.

"So, we going home or what?" said Rin and took Sango's and Kikyo's hands, swinging them wildly back and forth at their sides.

"I guess," said Sango, holding her pack strap. "We've been for over fifteen minutes."

Kikyo looked at her watch and figured that Kagome would be at home by now and in the garden tending the plants in her tank-top and short-jeans.

"Well, c'mon then," said Rin brightly, taking Ayame's and Kikyo's wrists as Sango hurriedly headed won the stairs before them. "We have to hurr—"

"Hey," said a voice.

Then the girls turned in order to see someone behind them, someone standing in a black suit with silver hair spilling behind him and golden eyes fierce.

"Can I…talk to Kikyo?" Inuyasha asked, his hands in his pockets and backpack straps hanging from his shoulders to his arms.

"Oh," said Rin and a mischievous smile spread across her face. She quickly let go of Kikyo's wrist and shoved her towards Inuyasha, saying, "Sure, of course."

And as Rin and Ayame head down the stairs, the dark-haired girl quickly leaned beside Kikyo and whispered, "good luck," before whipping her head back and hurrying into the streets with Ayame and Sango.

Kikyo watched them go for a moment and then turned her head to Inuyasha, who was looking straight at her.

"Can I…walk you home?" He asked her, an earnest look in his amber eyes.

"Oh…! Sure," said Kikyo and she and Inuyasha raced down the stairs and left the school grounds.

Soon they had wound themselves through the city in the cool autumn day and made it over to the shrine, the garden showing in its colorful brilliance and the scent of the plants wafting through the air. Inuyasha turned to Kikyo, whose eyes were upon him. And she was hit with the same emotions again. Emotions of love…and loss, of beginning…and end, of concatenation…and disconnection, they all hit her.

"Kikyo," said Inuyasha softly and he drew his hand into his back pack in the crook of his elbow, opening it to draw a small box from inside. Kikyo watched as Inuyasha opened the box and in it appeared on a mattress of cotton a small golden bouquet, a small bouquet of flowers. Bellflowers.

Inuyasha drew the silvery chain holding the small, but intricate bouquet and lifted Kikyo's thick hair beneath his arms, connecting the necklace in his hands and then drawing them back. Kikyo looked in numb astonishment at the small necklace laid on her neck and held with her careful fingers the small bouquet of golden flower. Every detail carved into it made the golden bouquet appear real, the flower's petals delicately etched, the ventricular veins of the leaves barely visible in the small etchings and the flowers in themselves.

Kikyo lifted the small pendant in her hands from her collar and bosom and looked up to Inuyasha.

He whipped his head around, turning anywhere but Kikyo with his eyes narrowed and his face slightly red.

"I thought…since you like flowers so much and your name means a flower, I would get you that. If you don't want it, though…"

Inuyasha stopped hear, waiting for Kikyo to say something. Kikyo only stared down at the necklace, finally dropping it onto her breast and reaching Inuyasha's lips with her own as she leaned against him on the tips of her toes.

Inuyasha looked a bit surprised as she kissed him and pulled away, her mask dropping as she said truthfully, "No, I want it Inuyasha, thank you so much."

Kikyo smiled gently, feeling an emotion of happiness she hadn't felt for a while. "Thank you," she said again.

Inuyasha faced her and said, his expression now softening, "It…was nothing."

And as Inuyasha turned to leave, Kikyo caught his shoulder and wheeled him around, sweeping her lips across his one last time, and running into the house.

As Kikyo made it into the house and Inuyasha walked away, continuing down the cement sidewalk he saw something stir to life in the garden that he hadn't noticed there before. He leaned his head back, uninterestedly looking for a better view. And then he saw someone rise from behind the bush of pink-and-purple hydrangeas, flower petal wafting around her.

It was a girl in the garden with long dark hair falling elegantly past her shoulders and hazel eyes shining bright. She brought a water bottle to her mouth, not a drop of the clear liquid seeping past her pale red lips. For the mild weather today, she wore a sleeveless, white tank-top and long, flowery skirt that molded into the figure of her round hips that narrowed into her small stomach and bloomed into her bosom. But this beautiful figure wasn't Kikyo Inuyasha noticed.

And their eyes met as he walked on past the house, slowing his pace to get a good look at the person in the garden. She looked straight into his golden eyes, and Inuyasha Takahashi and Kagome Higurashi could feel their eyes meet.

…

"So, Inuyasha was here today?" asked Kagome, settling beside her sister in the rich garden as she took a break.

Kikyo looked up from planting at Kagome, rather surprised as she curiously asked, "Why do you ask?"

"I saw him leave the garden today when you got inside the house," said Kagome as she threw down her muddy gloves and a pair of scissors.

Kikyo rose from the soil to join Kagome by the steps of the house and said, unconsciously touching the pendant she had received from her earlier beneath the clothing over her chest, "…yeah, he walked me home today."

"…He did?" asked Kagome curiously, "but…I thought you were avoiding him…that you guys weren't around each other so much anymore?"

Kikyo paused after Kagome's sentence. She could feel her sister's eyes upon her, melting her with her stare.

"Well," she said and she paused again, reminiscing the feeling…the touch… "I'm… truthfully not sure anymore what we're doing, who we are. When he…when he gave me this pendant," Kikyo lifted the chain from her neck and showed Kagome the small pendant hanging from it in her hands, "it…it bloomed again. The old emotions of joy and happiness with him and it continued to bloom when we shared that kiss. But…something's still missing; something about him fills me with joy…and fills me with loneliness. I can't really explain. I don't know if I love him anymore…or what's happened to us." 

Kagome didn't say anything after she had listened to Kikyo and let her finish.

"Something's still there," said Kikyo, leaning back and letting the wind carry the thin strands of hair from her thick cascade of midnight black, "something is left…I don't know what, but in my heart I still love him and somewhere else…something is fading. Some of the happiness and joy I felt with him, I think its beginning to fade into nothingness and loneliness."

"But you still love him?" said Kagome.

"I think so and yet I also start to think something's fading and disappearing." And Kikyo placed a hand to her lips. The kiss they shared had left her with the feelings of joy and loneliness, two very different emotions that filled her to the brim at his very sight and being.

"Well, maybe it's just been hidden, somewhere, waiting to be uncovered again," said Kagome.

"Or maybe it's gone, never to be found," said Kikyo sadly as she sat.

"You can't really know, Kikyo, not yet at least," Kagome said as she pulled up her skirt over her knees. But as she said this she remembered something so faint and vague she wondered why she remembered it at all.

She remembered seeing Inuyasha in the garden as he passed the house, his golden eyes fierce but soft, his silvery hair shining against the sunlight and his figure clad in a black uniform. She didn't know why, but when she saw him an emotion hit her and her mask dropped from over her face for that single moment. She couldn't explain the emotion that hit her, but her heart suddenly deeply thudded beneath her chest, her stomach plunged and her true face appeared for that. Every true and real part of her felt exposed: her true nature, her true appearance and her true thoughts.

And he looked back at her and the sight of one another pulled away. Why…had she felt like that for that moment, why had he captured her emotions and feelings that way?

How come her heart beat so fast and everything vanished from her thoughts except the feeling of falling?

"I don't know anymore…" said Kikyo softly, "I don't know what I feel for him anymore."

"But…" Kagome started and she felt something roil in her blood. Her face, soft and blank, filled her thoughts and emotions, but why? "But…" she started again, "But how long do you plan to continue to run from him, run from your emotions?"

"What…?" said Kikyo, surprised by Kagome's sentence, "what do you mean?"

"I mean, how long do you plan to continue to run?" said Kagome and an unaware passion flared in her voice, "how long do you continue to run from him and your emotions, how long do you plan to continue to hide?"

"I don't understand," said Kikyo as she looked surprised at Kagome.

Kagome didn't know why she said this; she could only feel her blood roil with her emotions. "You know what I mean," And Kagome felt herself question her own state of being. "How long do you intend on running, hiding, shunning your own being from them, from him? Running away from him, hiding?"

Kikyo looked somewhat stunned at Kagome as she finished, feeling her breath barely leave her lips.

"You can't run away forever, Kikyo," said Kagome quietly, "at some point the end reaches its own end, and forever won't last. You can't continue to run."

Kikyo looked at her silently, stunned and blank. She could feel her heart steadily beat and her breath barely audible.

And then she said, unknowing of her own words, "…you two, Kagome."

And then she felt the words naturally flow from her mouth, as if she had thought of them and memorized them through time, staring straight at Kagome. "Yes," she said, her voice growing stronger, "it's not just me who doesn't know her emotions…it's you as well…and you can't run forever Kagome, not just me."

"……I'm not running…from anything," said Kagome quietly to her sister, not looking at her but her own clasped hands.

"What do you mean?" said Kikyo and emotion filled her voice now. "'You're not running from anything'? Than why do you hide yourself beneath a mask and avoid people, shun yourself from the world and from everybody? Why do you close up in your shell if you're not running? Why do you hide yourself and wear a mask—"

"I don't," said Kagome, her voice now rising, and she could feel her thoughts and feelings stir. "I'm not running and I'm not wearing a mask, and I'm not hiding."

Now Kikyo looked indignant. "Really?" she said and the 'look' spread onto her features.

"Yes!" said Kagome firmly and she rose from where she sat. She could feel her thoughts and emotions cloud her words and her heart savagely beat. "I'm not running or hiding from anything or anyone! It's just—"

"It's just what?" Kikyo demanded, voice steadily rising. "You can't tell me that you seclude yourself at school and always remain alone because you aren't running from something!"

"I'm not!" said Kagome, her fists clenched at her sides. She whipped her head down, facing the ground and her shoes with her narrowed, strained eyes. "It's…its just…"

"Its just that's who you really are? The true you hides herself beneath a mask and shuns herself away from others? Is that the true you?" said Kikyo, exasperatedly and desperately.

"It… it is me," said Kagome softly, her voice barely reaching her sisters hearing.

"If that's the true you," said Kikyo, her voice desperately raised, "then who is the Kagome I know, the one talking and saying with me now? Is that your true form or the mask you wear?"

"They're both…me…" said Kagome weakly, trying not to allow her true emotions to seep through her words.

"But which one is the true you?" said Kikyo, facing Kagome as her sister's head was cast down.

Then Kagome's head whipped up and she said, loudly and fiercely, "You ask me who is the true one of myself, you don't know that about yourself!"

Kikyo's look dropped and her face weakened.

And Kagome felt the words rise with her voice, as if they had been hidden in her heart for some time, memorized with passion. And they flowed out, as she said, nearly shouting with her eyes nearly closed and her voice choked, "You don't know the true form of yourself either! Around him, with him, even just thinking about him…who is your true form, the one that still loves Inuyasha or the one who can't feel her way through her own feelings?"

"That…this…!" said Kikyo, tripping, "this has nothing to do with..!"

"Yes it does!" said Kagome loudly, "It does! Who is the real one Kikyo, who is it? Who is the true you, the one who still loves Inuyasha…or the one who feels loneliness at his touch?"

"And who is the true you?" said Kikyo, just as loudly as her twin sister. "Who is the true you, the one who secludes herself at school…or the 'you' that's speaking with me, the one I've known all these years?"

"Then…" said Kagome, her eyes opening to see Kikyo and her and her fists unfurling themselves to reveal the cuts on her palms and the blood on her nails, "we'll find out."

And both sisters knew what the other was thinking as they looked at each other. Kagome lifted her hand before Kikyo, her pale limb at her chest.

Then Kikyo raised her own hand, marked with the dirt she attempted to wipe away and she said, "Okay then."

And she said, "You will have to show your true colors at school, the true self I know and have always known, to become the person you truly are. You will have to become yourself."

"Fine," said Kagome and then said, "but you will have to finally come to realize and confront your true feelings for Inuyasha, whether to uncover the love that's been hidden away or admit the love that's been lost."

The sun had set early on this autumn afternoon, painting the skies in the pale colors of Chinese red, brilliant oranges and pale crimson. The soft zephyrs gently pulled the plants in the garden, causing them to sway like reflections in rippling waters as the two Higurashi twins clasped hands and the deals to become 'popular' and to recover or realize lost love were made.

**Okay, so this is the end of the first chapter and I hope you enjoyed! And sorry if the next chapter appears within the time span of 1-3 weeks. This has been NoName and Ai (with the help of Stage Hand). Please review, for I need at least 5 reviews before the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2: All that's passed

**Sorry for the wait, but thank you for reading the second chapter! Enjoy! Oh yeah, and for the reading format, thoughts are italicized and thoughts in flashbacks are bold-italicized. **

And the two Higurashi twins clasped hands, the garden wafting in the faint breeze of the cool autumn and the deal was made.

…

The school was lit by the fading autumn light that bled through the windows that morning, the lights off and dim. It was too early for school yet to begin as the cars wove their way past the building and through the city.

The apartment was small, set with a larger guest room and a smaller bedroom. The bed room was set with a small desk filled to the brim with messy stacks of paper, piles of thick books threatening to collapse and a small alarm clock that quietly ticked and ticked and ticked…

And, set with a small garland of dry, woven plants was a picture in fading color, the glass reflecting the light glaring onto it and obscuring the figure in the photo beneath. It was that of a woman, beautiful and graceful in her youthful yet mature appearance, with gentle brown eyes that were soft and kind. Her richly red lips were set into a gentle smile, her eyes lined with the pale color of peach and her cheeks tinted with color. Dark, nearly midnight black hair fell down her back and pulled past her shoulders, with the exception of the locks framing her face. It was the fading picture of Izayoi Takahashi.

Inuyasha, in his dark school uniform, heaved his backpack over his shoulder loosely as he took a bean-jam filled wafer in his mouth. His light hair fell as tousled as ever down his back and waist without any attempt in being bridled, his ears hidden beneath his thick, white-blonde locks.

He could see the deserted, messy apartment as it flashed through his amber eyes: a small couch was set against the wall by a broken lamp, looking into a small television set, supporting two small plates strewn with scraps of old food. The rugged floor was clean of any items with the exception of the furniture set upon it. A wicker cabinet was set against the cream-colored wall with a lamp and a counter separated the kitchen from the room where a refrigerator, dishwasher, and sink abided.

The room was always empty, always deserted, only with Inuyasha inside. And he knew why to well as the picture of Izayoi looked at him in its maple, wooden frame and beneath its shining glass.

He was unwanted, shunned, and lived in solitude. Inuyasha was born from the union of a peasant-like woman Izayoi, and aristocrat InuTashio. The two fell in love after Izayoi had moved back to Japan from China, with barely any money and living in nigh poverty and met InuTashio who would have never, but fell in love with her… and had married her, having her later bare his child, only to die shortly after his birth in an accident.

After InuTashio died, Izayoi was left again in near poverty, now with a child to care for and look after. She had barely managed to survive off a feeble job and died when Inuyasha was about the age of five when a car ran her over.

And he was left alone…but this wasn't the first time. Inuyasha was alone as a child he could vaguely remember, with only his mother to care for him, smile for him even though inwardly she suffered. He knew this because of the frail image built off of InuTashio's and Izayoi's marriage.

None of the families approved of it. InuTashio's family, including his son Sesshomaru born from the union of him and his first wife, all disapproved of the woman he fell in love with and intended to wed due to her financial status and lineage.

And when the two were married, Sesshomaru estranged himself from his family and all relatives refused relations to Izayoi, InuTashio, and the-to-be born Inuyasha, leaving the family only on the wellbeing of the father. And they suffered after he died. They were treated maliciously and willfully after their reputation had been spread.

And he learned to hate them all, every single one of them except his mother, the only one who cared for him and himself. He could trust and care for no one else and the frail happiness he once had with her shattered when Izayoi Takahashi died.

Inuyasha felt the sunlight hit him as he left the apartment and climbed down the stairs of the balcony-railed building. Every single memory hit him in autumn of those times, autumn being the time when Izayoi had died and he was forced to live alone again. Every one, including the time when he and Kikyo had met.

Inuyasha survived barely on the bit of money provided from his dead mother and father, and the few bits from Sesshomaru who had only given him the money to preserve his image. And with that bit of money he survived and eventually went to school.

Kikyo and he and met 3 years ago when he was desperately still living, barely making his way. He learned to trust no one and lashed out at people, causing them to run away in fear and fights to ensue. And he grew lonelier, more separated, more distrusted and hated. He had learned how to steal food from the Higurashi garden and not become caught. It was pathetic and stupid when he thought back to it…stealing food to barely survive, never asking for help of anyone, even to survive. Was it pride…of was it fear, fear of being hurt again, or looked at through cold, scornful eyes?

_It was truly… __**pathetic.**_

But he had to live, live even on the scraps of food from the garden he passed every day to school. He went there at night and stole the few food items he could carry, avoiding bystanders or being caught…until he came one night.

"_Is someone there?" came a voice from inside the garden._

_Inuyasha's heart stopped and his breath froze in his chest and throat. There was never anyone out in the garden at this time of night, no one to catch him or any way to get caught. And his mind raced. Had they noticed the missing vegetables and fruits from the garden and waited for him to come again and catch him?_

_How could they have? He barely stole any, and when he stole more than a handful, they were never noticeable. How had they noticed?_

_Inuyasha didn't move for a moment froze from fear and then poised to leap and run away, flee madly and wildly to not get caught. And his heart stopped as he heard his bare feet crunch against the dry leaves on the sidewalk, loudly enough so that the person in the garden would hear._

_**NO!**__ Though Inuyasha savagely and frantically. They would know he was there for sure. He would get caught. He would be sent to jail for stealing and trespassing. _

_**I've got to run**__! He though wildly and panicking.__** I have to get out now, before they can catch me!**_

_And Inuyasha barely rose in this deep darkness, poised to flee, but her eyes could see his faint, barely visible silhouette. _

"_So you are there," said the voice, soft and feminine as it spotted him._

_And Inuyasha knew they had seen him and took an audibly step forward to run before they could catch him. But they did catch him. They catch him with their voice as they said softly, "Wait, are you leaving?"_

_Inuyasha took a few steps more away before the voice stopped him again, saying, "Please don't go. Aren't you hungry?"_

_The words didn't register until Inuyasha was ten feet way from the garden and he realized the words that had been spoken. He stopped, still prepared to flee and faintly turned his head around to see the person who owned the voice._

_And when the person heard him no longer running, they continued in their soft voice, "Aren't you hungry? There are some vegetables in the garden."_

_Inuyasha listened without saying a word or moving an inch. And his heart still thudded rapidly and deeply, his mind racing wildly? What was this girl trying to say? He could tell by her soft, feminine voice that she was a girl. But what was she saying?_

_And then he heard her call out again, "Please, if its food you want, its here. It's inside the garden."_

_As he heard these words, Inuyasha could still feel his mind race wildly. Was this girl… allowing him to steal food from her garden?_

_**NO!**__ Though Inuyasha roughly, madly shaking his head. __**She's just trying to lure me in and turn me in.**_

_He didn't move, testing to see the girl's reaction. For a minute they both waited until the girl said, "Please, if you're hungry, come inside. You may take some food as you like."_

_Her words, her offerings were so tempting to Inuyasha's ears and stomach. But he didn't trust her and he wouldn't and remained still, watching the garden and invisible girl in silence. And the girl waited in turn. The two both waited until Inuyasha's stomach wouldn't let him any longer and he cautiously approached the garden barefooted. _

_And he leapt through the bushes, his guard set and his being wary. He was prepared for attack and to resist and attack back. But nothing happened. He waited and nothing still happened to him. _

"_So," came a voice, causing Inuyasha to go on guard again, "you decided to come back?"_

_Inuyasha watched as a girl came out fro the darkness, a candle in her hand to guide her through the nigh black. She was young; maybe a year or two younger than him with long, raven hair, mild, gentle hazel eyes, dressed in a nightgown and slippers. A coat was pulled over the top of her nightgown to ward away the cold. _

_Inuyasha watched her warily with his sense perked and he prepared…but the girl did nothing._

_And then he saw her toss something at his direction and he leapt nimbly back, his heart and mind racing. __**Ha**__, he though,__** I knew it!**_

_But, as Inuyasha inwardly smirked, he looked down at his feet and saw what the girl had tossed to him: a wicker basket filled with an assortment of leeks, tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, filled to the brim. Inuyasha looked in awe at it, not daring to touch it or taste it._

"_What's the matter?" asked the girl as she looked at his silent and unmoving state, "if you think they're poisoned, than let me eat some first."_

_At these words, Inuyasha's doubts were dispelled. He stared first at the basket, and then turned his face to the girl in awe. As he looked at her in pure confusion and consternation, he faintly thought he could see the briefest flicker of a smile cross the girls face. _

_Tentatively, Inuyasha grabbed the handle of the wicker basket, feeling with a grumble of his stomach, the weight of the fruit within it. He quickly turned on his heel as he grabbed the basket and the look on the girls face and then leapt through the bushes once again. As he left the garden, he cast one last look at the girl, who had opened her screen door and was about to go inside until she saw him look back. Then she said lastly as she closed the door, "Be careful and don't get caught."_

_And both of them left._

From that day on, Inuyasha lived in constant fear. The girl had seen his face, she had seen him and he was caught in the act. She even knew he was going to steal the food from the garden. _**Is she going to turn me in or report me to the police? She has to, there's no way she wouldn't! I'll be caught for sure**_!

But she didn't, she never did. Inuyasha waited for her to come at him with police man and a report fro his thievery, but she never did and that moment never came. After waiting a while, Inuyasha had continued to go into the garden, taking the basket with him in the night to gather food as the girl watched him so silently, dispelling his fears and doubts with her soft words and he eventually learned her name.

Kikyo.

As he gathered the food in her garden, she would continue to watch him. In the past, he thought with contempt that she watched his pitiful state with a cold stare, mocking him as he scavenged gardens for mere vegetables and waiting to turn him in. But as he remembered it now, perhaps she was keeping watch for him, in case anyone came to check on the house or garden to make sure he **wasn't** caught.

Was that it?

Inuyasha remembered soon dropping his guard around Kikyo as he gathered his food and soon talking to her and having brief conversations with her. But he still didn't allow himself to be soft around her or drop his guard completely. After all, she was like everybody else, everybody else who despised his pitiful existence and regarded him coldly. He couldn't trust her; he could only treat her with contempt.

"_Come out, Inuyasha," said Kikyo as he waited in the bushes to recognize the person in the garden as Kikyo._

_Inuyasha warily entered the garden with his beat up basket in the crook of his arm, looking suspiciously as ever at Kikyo._

_She was sitting on the ground of loamy soil, her black hair untied or bridled, and her eyes soft and unmoving. _

"_We haven't sat so close together, have we Inuyasha?" she said softly._

"_And what of it?" said Inuyasha suspiciously._

_Kikyo was silent for a moment, merely staring out into the garden of ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, the wide leaves gently bobbing in the cool breeze. Then she adjusted her coat over her shoulder, turning emotionlessly to Inuyasha and saying, "Do I…look like a regular girl to you, Inuyasha?"_

"_What?" said Inuyasha, never ceasing to be surprised at Kikyo's words._

_Kikyo looked away from him, facing out into the darkened garden. Then she said, her hair gently moving in the wind, "I can't…allow myself to look like a normal woman or to look human and I can't allow my true form to show for a moment. If I allow a moments hesitation, all the ugly emotions I've been trying to hide will consume me and I will give myself away to humanity. That's why, Inuyasha, I haven't been able to send you away or let anybody catch you. I heard of you many times before, living alone and in poverty and never letting anyone close and only pushing them away. You and I…are the same…for you too fight humanity."_

_And Kikyo stopped for a moment and then continued, saying, "I can't allow them to see me, Inuyasha. I have to be…the perfect creature for them, or I will cease to exist. I can't be human. That is how you and I are alike."_

_Inuyasha, after hearing this, stood up and said, looking down at the seated Kikyo, "What do I care for your whining? I am nothing like you!"_

_As Inuyasha turned away, still standing, Kikyo looked up at him and said, her face so soft, yet so pained as it smiled, "No…I suppose you're not."_

_And as Kikyo face appeared in Inuyasha's sight, he felt his heart suddenly stop in one hard, loud beat. _

Inuyasha could remember that day as he found his way through the streets of that autumn morning and his thoughts racing through his head: _Her face had looked so…utterly alone. And for the first time in my life that I could remember, I felt as if I had done something wrong. Why had she struck me that way…why had she looked so miserable and pained? And since that time, her face always nagged me and I found myself thinking about her all the time._

"_Inuyasha, I was thinking about turning this vegetable garden into a flower garden," said Kikyo, the spring bringing the new plants that had died over the winter to dry decay. She took some of the soil in her hands, saying, "I think…the life of this garden is at its end, so I'll plants some flowers here."_

_Inuyasha listened as he sat by the candle illuminating his face and features, glowing against him. "Feh," he said, closing his eyes, "what would I care?"_

"_I was wondering," said Kikyo, looking softly at the remnants of the once thriving plants, "how you would survive without the garden here if the flowers were planted. Then all the vegetables…would be gone and you wouldn't have food. How would you live?"_

_As Kikyo said this, her eyes turned to Inuyasha and she could see his surprised face as he looked back. She was…thinking about him, how he would survive. She had continued to labor on the vegetables in the garden so that he could survive and live. Why…had she thought about him?_

_Inuyasha, as Kikyo looked earnestly at him, couldn't look at her anymore and looked away. He could feel her gaze leave him and his own linger at the dry plants after the fall and winter._

_Then he stood up and, looking back at Kikyo, said as he leapt through the bushes, "Don't…worry about me. I can survive, and not just on this garden." And he left the Higurashi house._

He had worked hard, but Inuyasha got a job to keep himself going and to allow Kikyo to create the flower garden she lingered over. She wouldn't have to worry about him…he wouldn't let her as he worked and soon made enough money to move into an apartment and continue with his school training. And soon they got closer and closer to one another and the human sides they had been trying to hide…their true forms, began to bleed through. They slowly became more and more human and they became more and closer.

And their feelings showed and grew for one another. Inuyasha felt emotions he hadn't felt for so long… feelings of compassion, of trust, and of…_love._ And Kikyo's true feelings and form began to show…her 'imperfect' form and the love between them flourished.

But eventually, as school began and Inuyasha's feelings of distrust and Kikyo's mask resumed, the feelings of love began to wane. Everyone around them, people, trust, and imperfection…every bit of it grew until Inuyasha and Kikyo began to fall apart and the feelings between them had changed. The old feelings of love and comfort began to morph into loneliness and pain. Why had they changed? What had happened between them?

Inuyasha could feel these painful feelings well inside him. School was close and he could feel every emotion spill itself in his memories. The feelings of loneliness and distrust grew as he and Kikyo grew farther apart. Even though the rift widened, though, something was still there. A light in the darkness that still faintly flickered. Still flickering…so softly.

And Inuyasha could remember feeling it yesterday when Kikyo kissed him and spoke to him, looking kindly at him and he could feel the feelings of distrust fade away, like the ugly emotions inside him.

But…where were those feelings now…? And what of their love still existed? Something was gone, but something was still there, still glowing faintly, still dully shining. It still existed…didn't it?

The love he and Kikyo had shared.

And Inuyasha raced into the school building as he heard the bell ring and the day begin.

…

"And so class," said Miroku, running a finger over the wide stacks of books on his desk, "that will be your assignment for Friday. I expect from each of you to hand in at least six pages on the report in an old and still thriving religion. Class dismissed."

Miroku looked down at his books as the bell rang and the first morning class ended and students rose from their seats. The light poured in through the opened windows and shone over the students in the classroom.

A cooler breeze poured in from the windows than yesterdays, carrying in the scents of the plants and their last, fading scents. It spread through the classroom in the daze of fall. The schoolmates dispersed as they fled into the halls for their next, assigned class, leaving all but one student in the room.

Kagome lay with her head against her thick pile of books, her hair falling out of its elastic band and her eyes closed. She could barely feel the vibrations of the footsteps of her classmates, her daze now slumber.

The voices of people passed her ears, barely touching her hearing and she lay. When she slept she was often in a light slumber, but in her dazes, she slept heavily. Soon all the footsteps had stopped and only silence was left in their place, the people now in the halls and only two people left in the classroom.

"Higurashi, Miss, Higurashi?"

Kagome could hear faintly a voice calling out her name and then numbly felt a warm hand shaking her shoulder. At first she didn't register it, but then she responded by meekly opening her eyes and straightening up. As she rose from the desk, she could feel the hand leave her shoulder and she saw vaguely, her eyes adjusting to the light, a man standing beside her.

"Oh!" Kagome gasped, recognizing this figure and hastily trying to look awake and saying, "Houshi-sensei!"

The man beside her grinned in reply. He had tousled, dark hair that was tied into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck. He wore a suit the color of dark, navy blue, nigh black that molded into his masculine figure. His eyes were the dark color of rich, blackening blue and a bag was held in the crook of his elbow.

This was Miroku Houshi, a young, nearly twenty-year-old student teacher who worked at the high school from the college nearby. He had started teaching only this year, his tutelage featuring Philosophy and Religion, but he had already attracted the lustful eyes of many of the female students. He was popular among students for his laidback, lenient nature, but he was still strict and required the utmost attention in his class.

"So you're awake now, Miss Higurashi?" said Miroku, smiling gently.

"Oh," said Kagome and she remembered she had been asleep and hastily said, her voice a bit frantic, "I just sort of dazed off there…but I did get the assignment, sensei…!"

"Good," said Miroku, grinning, "Then I can expect another well-written and thoughtful paper from you, Miss Higurashi."

Kagome, looking into Miroku's kind face, couldn't help but blush, "Y-you don't have to flatter me, sensei, really, it's…"

"Oh, I'm telling the truth," said Miroku, with a curious expression on his face and then said, holding the backpack in his elbow, "you write very well, Miss Higurashi, and your papers are both clear and complex. I expect more well-written assignments in the future from you."

Kagome felt the heat rise to her face and couldn't help but raise her hands to her darkening complexion.

"Y-you're too kind, sensei," said Kagome softly, trying to hide her reddening face.

"Really?" said Miroku and then he shifted, leaning against a desk by Kagome's and then said, sighing and looking slightly depressed as he gently smiled, "I don't think everybody thinks so."

"What do you mean, sensei?" said Kagome, her being now alert and vigilant.

Miroku was silent for a moment, looking away through the hallway now empty of students and faculty, and then said softly, "I mean…" but then he stopped, still looking longingly away and then dismissed his last sentence with his words, "It's nothing, I'm merely spouting nonsense. Forgive me for wasting your time, Miss Higurashi."

Kagome looked at him lift himself from the support of the desk and, straightening up, turn to leave the classroom. His beige bag swung at his side as he turned to look back at Kagome, saying as he gently smiled, "Have a good afternoon, Miss Higurashi, and I will see you tomorrow."

"Y-yes, sensei." said Kagome, as she hastily stood up and faced the now empty hallway. She had just realized that this was break time for the students and hurriedly, with her bag over her shoulder and bouncing at her side, ran into the halls.

Few students still lingered in the hallways during this time of study, but Kagome could still see people wander about.

_I wonder what Kikyo's doing now,_ Thought Kagome dully as she heard the own padding of her footsteps. She looked out at the closed doors of the few rooms that adorned the white halls and flashed in her vision and she remembered the deal that she and Kikyo made.

_I have to be myself, huh?_ She thought numbly as the doors and halls passed her by. _Then what am I supposed to do?_

She could feel the heat rise on her body and burn beneath her skin as she thought, passing the nearly empty halls and looking away from her destination. She could feel the weight of her bag bounce against her waist and her wavy hair bounce in her loose clip's teeth.

As she thought of actually being herself, her body burned and her heart seemed to loudly thump in her chest. Everything seemed to slow down and in the end she was the only thing moving.

She had hid herself away, hid herself beneath the safety of a mask because…she didn't want to be compared to her, she didn't want to continue to fail in comparison to Kikyo. She didn't have a scarred past or anything but…Kikyo was the perfect being, she was everything to everyone, and Kagome didn't want to be disappointed again. Compared and losing to Kikyo again. That's why she hid away, that was why she never spoke to anyone and never was around anyone. She didn't want to fail in comparison to Kikyo again. She didn't want to be disappointed and she didn't want to disappoint. Not again.

At least if she hid away, no one could hurt her and she could hurt on one by being the imperfect being compared to Kikyo.

It's too hot! Though Kagome savagely, feeling the heat of her words snake over her body. Whenever she thought about failing to Kikyo or attempting to lift her mask, her body burned and her heart thudded. She was too scared, too afraid to try and disappoint anyone by being less than Kikyo. And…she didn't want to disappoint herself.

Kagome, feeling her body burn and sweat bead her face, tugged at the hem of her sweater and attempted to lift it off of her. She pulled the thick wool over her head and felt the heat slowly disappear on her flesh as she tied the sweater around her waist.

_Why do I fail so much to Kikyo…?_

Kagome was so deep in thought she didn't the person coming at her as she turned the corner and managed to hit them, toppling back. She fell back and her clip fell out of her hair, splaying her dark locks all over her face and shoulders. She could feel her head ache where she hit the person and her eyes close.

_Urgh…I'm such a klutz_! She thought angrily at herself, her sweater strewn around her, her bag on the floor and her hair everywhere. Kagome raised a hand to her face and pulled back her curtains of long hair behind her ears so that only her bangs reached her face.

"S-sorry!" she said frantically to the person she had collided with and she looked up to see the figure standing before her, unmoved by the collision.

Her eyes widened as she recognized this boy as Inuyasha, his hand over his lower face from where she had hit him and his black uniform ruffled. His bag was thrown onto the floor as his hands clutched his lower face. When he removed his hands, Kagome could see with regret, the injury that had been left from their crash.

"You have a hard head…!" He said stiffly as he looked down at her.

But then he registered who this person was. The same girl in the garden when he had left, with her dark hair splayed on her back and trailing locks climbing over her shoulders and her hazel eyes locked on his amber ones. She looked so much like Kikyo…yet she didn't.

Kagome, after meeting Inuyasha's eyes, hastily turned down her head and said frantically while gathering her bag and sweater in her grasp, "S-sorry I…wasn't really paying attention…"

"Obviously," said Inuyasha, getting his own bag from off of the floor and slinging it over his shoulder.

Kagome took her sweater and tied it tightly around her waist as she sat on her legs, her clip's teeth digging into the wool of one of the sweater's sleeves and her bag in her arms.

Clamping the floor with her palms, Kagome tried to heave herself off of the floor but failed in the attempt as she thudded back down due to her weakened legs.

"Ow…" said Kagome under her breathe as she felt her legs ache from her twisted fall.

Then she saw a hand raised before her, coming from the black sleeve-clad arm of Inuyasha as his golden eyes landed upon her.

Kagome clasped his hand and felt her body rise as the strong arm immediately lifted her from the floor to her feet. Kagome staggered on the soles of her shoes as she landed on her feet, her dark hair bouncing in the air and her bag at her side. Kagome could feel the warmth of Inuyasha's hand leave hers slowly as he put it in his pocket when she was standing.

"Um…er, thanks," said Kagome earnestly as she patted her skirt and threw back her hair from her neck.

Inuyasha could see each individual strand of midnight black catch the superficial sunlight emanating from the ceiling lights and specks dance across her greenish eyes. She looked so much like Kikyo and reminded him so much of her…but something was different about her, her aura, the air in which she gracefully moved.

"Oh," said Inuyasha hastily, "…it's nothing."

Kagome could feel her bag sway lightly on her shoulder and her hair move unbridled by her clip.

"Um…were you looking for Kikyo?" she asked uncertainly.

"No, not really," said Inuyasha as he shifted his hand in his pocket and the other loosely hanging at his side. She looked so much like her, but her voice was different as was her air. Just like when he saw her in the garden that day…

As soon as she cast a swift look at Inuyasha, Kagome felt their eyes immediately link as Inuyasha stared at her. His pale golden eyes…she could see her own figure reflect in them softly and she could see something else hidden inside them. Loneliness, distrust, pain, hate… and all those emotions she could only vaguely see in those amber eyes, and she felt the same sensation as yesterday when she was in the garden and their eyes met.

But how come she could see these emotions and not turn away? Even as she looked at these emotions swirl in the depth of his eyes, she could feel her own mask slip away and her true self show, reflected in those golden eyes. Her own mask hiding her fear, uncertainty, hopelessness, and inferiority.

Then why did she feel tears suddenly well in her eyes and spill themselves down her face?

"H-hey!" said Inuyasha, as he saw the tears stream down her cheeks, "Why are you crying?"

Kagome weakly lifted her hands to her face, saying honestly, "I don't know…the t-tears just started to overflow…"

Kagome could feel the wet droplets continuously make their way from her eyes to her face, streaming down her cheeks. The wet teardrops reached her touch as they flecked the backs of her hands and Kagome firmly shut her eyes in an attempt to stop the abrupt flow.

Something in her heart ached at the sight of Inuyasha, and the loneliness and fear she tried to hide found themselves painfully away in her tears. The pain in her heart wouldn't stop… it wasn't sympathy and it wasn't empathy. Maybe it was the emotion she was trying to hide away, tugging at her heart, her faint spirit, causing her tears to overflow. Why did her heart hurt so much at this boy's sight?

Inuyasha helplessly, confusedly, and painfully watched Kagome cry her heart out and he felt the reminiscence of Kikyo's pain, his pain, and his mother's pain in her spilling tears. Why he felt sympathy for this girl, he didn't know. He hadn't trusted anyone other than Kikyo and when they had grown farther and farther apart, so grew the trust and caring he had known. And before he knew it, he found himself distrusting again, alone again, being lashed out and hurt, lashing and hurting again. Then why did he not feel these emotions towards this girl that he did everybody else besides Kikyo…?

Inuyasha didn't know why but he reached out his hands and, pushing Kagome's hands apart, swept his own sleeved hand over her tears.

Was it because she reminded him of the pained and lonely Kikyo with whom he had once shared his love…?

The bell suddenly rang through the halls, bringing Inuyasha and Kagome out of their thoughts and daze as the school came to life. Kagome broke her eyes off of him and turned around, hurrying away to the class with her bag swinging madly about. She could feel her body burn, but she couldn't understand why he had stayed as she cried or why her mask had fallen from her face.

Why had her true self shown…and what was the feeling that buried itself in her heart as she looked or thought about him?

…

"…this time was called the 'Warlord Era' or 'Era of the Warring States' from the constant civil wars that took place in 15th and 16th century Japan. The feudal overlords, also known as daimyo, fought to control land and its resources amongst one another during the Sengoku Jidai as the ruling shogun and his central government weakened. The period between the years of 1482-1558 became the age of great battle, mysterious ninja, and powerful samurai."

Naraku threw back his dark, wavy hair and drew a thick book from the table into his hands and continued, saying, "And because of these constant wars, average working folk were often in the midst of a great battle, in which afterward the land would be reduced to a blood-soaked graveyard. Many people died during this time of the Sengoku Era."

Then Naraku opened his thick book, the color of blood, and said, "Now, your assignments will be to research the Sengoku Era, how it came to be, and what affect it made on the world and Japan today. Class dismissed."

The bell loudly rang, cutting the silence of the classroom in its wake. The students stood up to gather their items and leave the school building as the school day ended and the afternoon painted the sky in the rich colors of the autumn leaves. The school wafted around with the scent of the season in the air.

Kikyo looked around the class as she stood up through the torrents of students, her bag at her side and her hair thrown over her shoulder in a twisted, raven rope. She could see, through the corners of her eyes as she gathered her books, the people leaving the classroom, laughing and talking amongst one another. And she could see Kagome walk through the crowds, with her hand over her bag's strap and looking to the side as if in a daze.

Kikyo noticed, though, that her hair was down, cascading in waves over her back and her sweater was tied around her waist with the teeth of her clip biting into it.

_Oh…the dare…_thought Kikyo as she stood up through the torrents of students, looking for a gap in the crowd through which to pass. _I wonder what I'm going to do with my part…_

To figure out her feelings for Inuyasha…

Kikyo had been avoiding him today, not knowing what to do or say to him. Just thinking about him was painful. But she knew she couldn't run forever, she had to fulfill her end of the deal as well. But Kikyo just didn't know where to start.

There could be no start; wherever she looked she couldn't find it. _But I can't continue to run… I have to continue forward, I can't continue to run._

But Kikyo couldn't confront him; she couldn't even think about him, it felt as if her heart were breaking asunder. It was painful even holding back the tears. But she had to continue forward, she couldn't run away or hide anymore. She had to confront him at some point….but whenever she thought about this, her courage would slowly ebb away to be replaced with the pain of her shattering heart. She had to find it. She had to find the start, she couldn't run away again.

_I have to find it…_ thought Kikyo as she numbly could feel her vision cross those of the departing students and nearly empty classroom. _The love that's hidden, waiting to be uncovered again…or the love that's forever lost between us. _

Before she knew it, the classroom was empty of students except Kikyo as she looked around. She hadn't realized how deep she had been in her musings. Kikyo held the strap of her backpack over her shoulder and made her way to the opened door of the classroom, showing the hallways filled with people.

_I don't know, though…how far I will go or where I'll make it. _Thought Kikyo as she headed to the door and then she could feel everything in her vision disappear, except her thoughts, replaced in nothingness. Everything had disappeared; it was only her as she thought insensibly.

_But I'll continue toward the end…even when there's nothing left but the mask I wear in my hands._

_Clatter…!!_

Kikyo was brought out of her thoughts as her ears suddenly picked up the sounds of hard items tumbling to the ground and she realized that she had dropped her bag onto the floor. She hadn't even realized the surroundings she inhibited, only her thoughts.

Kikyo looked emotionlessly at the bag on the floor, books falling from its mouth and papers strewn on the floor. She leaned down to pick them up as she realized they were her items, kneeling on the floor and outstretching her arms without thought.

_Perfect…emotionless…modeled after everyone wanted her to be…and alone…_

That was Kikyo; she was nothing but everything people wanted of her. If she wasn't needed, then she would cease to exist. So she made herself needed, wanted, the true her never showing, because nobody wanted the real her.

Except someone had wanted her once, someone had needed her as much as she needed them. But they hadn't needed the perfect, flawless her; they had wanted her in her imperfect and flawed form. Someone had needed her…she wasn't unwanted.

But that was no more. She was no longer needed, only her perfect, false form was ever looked at in this unneeded world. She wasn't needed, not her true self. Only the perfect from everybody wanted to see, to hear, and to exist. Because the real her was unneeded in this world.

Kikyo hadn't even noticed a shadow crossing over her as she kneeled to the ground, unmoving to pick up the books and only staring at the floor with the manuscripts in her hands. Not until she felt the touch of his flesh as he drew the books from her hands and laid them into the bag now propped up against her kneeling legs.

"Oh," said Kikyo, coming back to the realization of what was around her after his touch, "Onigumo-sensei,"

Kikyo saw Naraku standing beside her with his bag in the crook of his arm and realized all of her books and papers in her bag.

Naraku Onigumo was the History and Contemporary Events teacher at Shikon High School. He had only recently acquired the job, but ever since he had worked there, Kikyo knew there was something different about him. Something…that reminded her of Inuyasha, something familiar. He was different, something about him called out to her.

His long, wavy black hair fell down his back held in a band at the back of his head. His skin was pale, bleached by the darkness in which he abided and his eyes were narrowed, auburn. His dark, nearly black suit covered his tall, willowy, but strong figure as he stood in the feeble light that came through the windows.

Kikyo stood up with her bag's straps in her hands, observing her teacher as she rose. His face was emotionless as he looked at her, his body un-leaning as it stood straight and firm, his strong shoulders rippling under the fabric of his suit.

Kikyo was certain they hadn't met before outside of her school life…but something about him was so familiar, so close, so near and reminiscent. But she didn't know what it was.

Kikyo straightened up and said, in her masked voice and appearance, "Thank you, sensei."

Naraku only nodded and Kikyo turned to leave. She could feel the floor beneath her feet as she made it half-way through the door, the classroom disappearing behind her. Just as she entered the hallway, she could feel Naraku's gaze on her and she turned to see him in the out of the classroom behind her.

"Don't run forever, Miss Higurashi," said Naraku quietly and he turned away into the halls, leaving Kikyo looking curiously at his black suit-clad back.

Kikyo only looked at him as he walked away and she could see his dark hair and suit soon disappear as he turned through the halls, dotted with students. And she could feel that reminiscent sensation again pull at her heart and mind, tugging at her. There was something about Naraku that called out to her and drew her…

…

She had dark hair tied into a pony-tail, with the exception of the short locks framing her face. Her hair bounced as she ran through the halls and out of the door of the classroom she had been in, her bag threatening to slide down her shoulder as she sped away.

"Wait, Sango!" called out a voice as she ran.

Sango didn't look back as she ran, holding her bag with her hand. She kept on running as she made her way to the doors outside of the school building, her hair flying madly and breathing unmoving as she held it in her throat.

Then she stopped as she felt hands grip her arms, holding her back and putting a halt to her running. For a moment, she struggled mercilessly in the arms of her captor, and then she drew a deep breath and said loudly, "What do you want?!"

She turned her profile to see Miroku holding her back with his hands gripping her arms and holding her to his chest to restrain her from speeding off again, a bright red mark across his face. Sango still struggled as she was biting her lip with her magenta-lined eyes narrowed, but couldn't break free from his grasp.

It took all of his might to restrain her as she struggled and strained to break lose so she could break into a sprint again. Miroku, pulling her to him, said, "Sango, please, you have to listen before you overreact—"

"Overreact?!" she burst out, still struggling with all her might to break free. She could feel her teeth cut into her lip as she refrained to shout out and instead hissed, "What do you mean 'overreact'? You call this overreacting, you hent—"

"Please, I fear you are overreacting, Sango," said Miroku calmly as she struggled.

"I am not overreacting!" Sango nearly shouted, and neither her nor Miroku noticed the nervous/curious eyes of the by standing teachers and students.

"Let go!" she said ferociously as she struggled to break free of his grasp.

Sango tried to yank her arms free, trying to break away from Miroku's grasp. She continued to struggle like an animal in the arms of its captor, but to no avail could she break free.

"Will you just let go…?!" She said furiously as she struggled wildly.

"No, I'm afraid I will not," said Miroku still calmly as he held her back from running any further. "Please, Sango, it was just a touch—"

But at this point, Sango had grabbed her bag in her hands and furiously launched it at Miroku's face, ending in Miroku toppling back and his face covered in a large (and painful) print.

Without even bothering to retrieve her bag or look back, Sango sped full-speed through the halls and made her way soon to proximity to the doors. Everything was hot, her skin burned, and her flesh seared painfully. Why did she feel this way…?

Why did she topple to the ground as she staggered and tripped on her own feet? Why did she feel the cold marble beneath her knees and hands as she held herself up and why did it take everything, all of her strength she could muster…? Why did it take everything to hold back tears?

Sango bit her lip and tried to clear the wet fuzziness from her vision as she faced the floor, but couldn't stop her shaking limbs.

_Idiot!_ She thought angrily as she clamped a hand over her shaking arm. _Why the heck are you so weak…?_

Sango closed her eyes firmly, resolute not to let tears stream from them. She could only face the cold floor, her eyes closed and her body barely quivering.

"Stupid Miroku…" she whispered, feeling her words cost her a tremulous breath and bringing her one step closer to tears.

_I'm so weak! …! Why don't I have any power to stop the trembling?_

Sango clenched her fists as she felt the words disappear and her thoughts barely touch her conscious. Only raw emotion was what she could now perceive. As she knelt with her head bowed, she didn't even notice someone beside her, listening to her and watching her. Not until she heard the footsteps approaching and lifted her head to barely see someone grabbed her hand and lift her off the floor.

"Kikyo…?"

But as these words left her lips, Sango knew it wasn't her. No…this wasn't Kikyo leading her through the hallways and out of the school building, not Kikyo leading her away.

The doors clattered open as the girl before her and Sango made it outside of the school building. The intense sunlight bled over her, burst into her vision and nearly blinded her if not for the speckled shadows of the trees and their parted leaves. Sango caught her breath, still jagged from her close-to-tears state and wiped the back of her hand over her eyes as she stood in the grounds. Every shadow lapped the descending, cement stairs, as did the dry autumnal leaves. Sango could feel the cool speckled shadows of the treetops collapse onto her…and the person with her.

She was her age, with dark hair and a sailor suit that clad her figure.

"No, not Kikyo…Kagome."

**Okay, thanks for reading this new chapter and I hope it was enjoyed. And, in a disclosed feature, the past of Kikyo and Kagome. Please enjoy!**

She had been remembering in her dream four years ago when she and Kikyo had been, like in school, so far apart.

Even though they were twins, they were so different that they couldn't connect, they couldn't relate, and ended up fighting a lot. Being with Kikyo was painful then. She was so perfect in the eyes of her parents and in the eyes of everybody else. Her light was so bright, Kagome felt as if the brittle one she emanated was extinguished by her. Kikyo was the one people liked and adored. Everyone wanted to be around her. But Kagome didn't have the same affect on people.

Kikyo was too perfect, flawless, and then Kagome was the shy girl who could never amount to anything in her sister's eyes. Kikyo's cold, lightless eyes. Ever since school began, Kagome closed up inside herself and Kikyo became the social butterfly everyone loved and who everyone wanted to become. And that state of the twins flourished, Kagome becoming more and more closed up and Kikyo becoming more and more likeable.

Why couldn't she stand up to Kikyo? Why couldn't she find the courage in her heart to be like her, talk to people like her, be with people like her? Why did Kikyo have to be so perfect and Kagome had to be the flawed double? Why had it been that way?

And Kagome could remember whenever she and Kikyo spoke it was in deathly whispers or in tirades. Kikyo had always regarded her with cold eyes that Kagome could only shrink in. And soon in time, the girls had begun to despise each other so much, they couldn't stop fighting. Whenever they talked, they scared the younger siblings and angered their parents.

They couldn't…connect.

And then Kagome remembered one time she could feel and touch so easily in her memory, the time she had first seen Kikyo for who she was.

_The night was cold that day in near spring, three years back. Kagome could feel the warmth of her covers against her clothed skin as the cool air wafted around her. _

_Kagome's eyes snapped opened and she could feel the cloth of her blanket cool against her thin fabric-covered self. Straightening up and whipping her covers to the floor, Kagome stood up and approached the window, holding her shoulders in the cold._

_**It's freezing!**__ She thought savagely as she noticed the amount of skin left vulnerable and uncovered by the end of her nightgown. __**Kikyo was supposed to close the windows!**_

_The floor seemed suddenly like a smooth layer of ice as she walked across the wooden surface in her bare feet. In this darkness, all she could find was the window, through which the streetlights glowed. Kagome, feeling her teeth begin to softly chatter and her shoulders shake beneath her arms, ran towards the window leading into the back yard. Albeit the thin curtains covering the windows, holes of light smeared the white cloth and the wind gently pulled them in and pushed them out._

_Kagome, reaching out her hands, closed her fingers tightly upon the thin fabric and yanked it away from the window with all her quaking might. She could feel the uncovered wind blast her body and bare face, numbing her skin._

_**Why's it so cold in spring?**__ She thought angrily and tossed aside the curtains. The windows were opened, opened up to the near frame as the panes held in the only wind being blasted at them and rattled with it. Kagome held the windows and, as she prepared to pull them down over the broken screen, paused as she saw something. A light appeared in her eyes as she looked down onto the ground through the window and saw alight. Usually, a light in the darkness of the city wouldn't have been new to her, but when she saw where it was coming from her fingers slipped from the window and fell to the heater beneath its frame. The light was coming from the garden._

_Kagome loved the garden, but she only tended to it during the day time before Kikyo tended to it in the afternoon. She hadn't much to do in the dry soil; after the mild autumn and harsh winter, the plants had either died of were dying, nigh any life in the garden left. Kagome froze as she saw the light as reached for a small keychain she had._

_Without gazing away from outside the window, her hand scurried across the floor until kit met a small, angular object. Kagome reached until she found the small ring attached onto a thin silver chain attached to the keychain. Then Kagome drew it to herself. It was her small, chibi-dolphin keychain with a small trigger on the top as the moveable dorsal fin. As Kagome pulled back the dorsal fin in her finger, the dolphin's jaws moved apart so that the mouth opened to reveal its pale tongue, several sharp teeth and a red light that appeared to emanate form the back of the dolphin's throat._

_Kagome moved the dolphin's opened mouth as the pale red light streamed through it and raised it to her own face so that she could see the light in the garden more clearly. As she did so, her heart skipped a beat. She could see the light in the garden and the figures it was illuminating; it was Kikyo in her nightgown and a thick coat pulled over her, the source of the light a lit candle she held in her hand and near her a young boy with brilliantly white hair and unusual golden eyes. _

_**What the— what's Kikyo doing in the night in the garden with that boy?!**__ Thought Kagome wildly as her fingers trembled on the dolphin's dorsal fin trigger and caused the light to flicker. Kagome stopped her hand and closed both of hers around it to stop it, in case Kikyo and the boy would notice. Then, just as she was about to call out, a voice came. Kikyo's voice;_

"_Are you sure, Inuyasha?" she said, softly but concernedly, "how will you survive if not on this garden?"_

"_Feh," said the boy as he crossed his arms and sat cross-legged in the soil, "I'll be fine, I don't need your petty garden to survive!"_

_Then Kagome's breath caught in her throat and she clasped a hand over her mouth to prevent herself from giving herself away by gasping. She suddenly knew who this boy was. He was Inuyasha, the infamous adolescent who started fights with whom ever he seldom approached. He was a vagabond, without money or a home, who was treated badly and fought with the people who encountered him._

_**What's Kikyo doing with this delinquent?!**__ Kagome thought wildly as she felt her heart suddenly rapidly beat._

"_But…" said Kikyo worriedly._

"_You needn't worry about me, woman," said Inuyasha as he sat, facing Kikyo. "I don't need your help."_

_As he said this, Inuyasha rose from the dirt with some of what he had gathered from Kikyo, consisting or two nearly ripened mangos and an apple from the kitchen. He turned to the bushes, in mid-poise to leap through them when Kikyo said, "…Wait, Inuyasha."_

_Inuyasha turned around to see Kikyo, kneeling in the dirt with the cloth of her nightgown spread around her, "Will," she said quietly, looking at him weakly, with an expression Kagome had never seen her wear before. Was it…loneliness? "Will you still…come here? Will you come back?"_

_Kikyo looked at him for a moment, waiting for Inuyasha's response and Kagome could see the surprised look on his face. He looked back at her quietly and then, whipping his head around as Kagome noticed it was beginning to darken in color, said quietly, "What do you care?"_

_With an agile leap, Inuyasha jumped through the bushes, where Kikyo could still see his head bobbing out in the darkness. Kikyo was about to rise and enter the screen door when Kagome could see her stop as Inuyasha's voice became audible again and he said, "Don't think you'll see the last of me…Kikyo."_

_And then he disappeared in the darkness without another word, the only noise coming from him that of his fast and silent footsteps. Kagome watched for a moment silently until she could see Kikyo's face with the most pure and honest smile she had ever seen from her, and she heard the clatter of the door as she reentered the house._

_Kagome didn't move, except for dropping the now lightless keychain onto the ground as she sat in awe. What had she just seen? Kikyo had been down there in the garden, giving Inuyasha food from the kitchen after he had been stealing in the summer's end from the vegetable garden. _

_Why had Kikyo been there with Inuyasha? She was talking with him and acting in a way Kagome had never seen her act around anybody before. She was like a different Kikyo when she was with him, with worries and concern and…loneliness._

_When she had asked if Inuyasha if he would come back, she sounded so lonely and pained, as if her heart were breaking. Kagome had never seen her like that before, heard her that way before, or experienced her like that before. That was Kikyo…wasn't it? It had to be. That girl had Kikyo's voice, Kikyo's appearance and she had been addressed by Inuyasha as 'Kikyo'. _

_Kagome didn't even realize the sound of the door clacking open to her room or the sight of Kikyo entering. Kagome dully registered the door creaking closed as Kikyo got inside and turned her head numbly to see her sister. _

_Kikyo was looking at her with the expression of utmost horror on her face, her eyes wide and her mouth tightly closed as if she were going too be sick. With trembling hands at her side and her face blank of anything but terror, she only stared at Kagome. _

_Kagome could tell that she knew she had been watching by the window as she sat by it, the dolphin-keychain-light dropped beside her, and Kagome only stared wide-eyed back at her. But she knew Kikyo wouldn't say anything; she couldn't. She looked too scared and sick to speak._

_Than, trembling sharply, Kagome stood up and looked at her sister._

_As she approached her, Kikyo said quietly and tremulously, "Did…did…d-did you s-see that…down i-i-in the garden?"_

_Kagome nodded numbly, looking at Kikyo's still horror-struck face. Then she said, her voice unusually calm and low, "You were giving food…to him: Inuyasha. He was the one…stealing food from the garden earlier, wasn't he? He was the one in the garden. He is the reason…why you always come to bed late…isn't he?"_

_Kikyo didn't answer, still looking horrified as she looked at Kagome and Kagome knew that she was right. Then, as Kikyo continue dot look terrified and sick, Kagome suddenly burst out, not knowing why she did, "Why were you with him, never telling anybody he was the one stealing food from the garden?! How long did you know this, anyway? A week? A couple? A month? Last year?!"_

_Kikyo continued to merely look at Kagome as she yelled, oblivious to everybody else sleeping in the house or the neighbors sleeping outside. Then Kagome yelled, looking furiously at Kikyo, "How come you never reported him or told anyone about him? That he was the one stealing our crops or that he was coming here night by night? How come you were talking with him and giving him our food? How come you were with him, talking as if you were friends? How come you continued to be with him? How come you were with him tonight, talking to him, speaking with him like I've never seen you before? How come…"_

_Kagome could see Kikyo's horrified face but continued albeit, saying loudly as she saw Kikyo's watery eyes, "How come you looked lonely around him and looked like you couldn't bear to be without him?!"_

_Kagome stopped, looking furiously at Kikyo with her eyes dilated and her breath ragged. She didn't even notice her hands furled into fists so tightly that she was breaking her skin with her nails. Kikyo, looking continuous looking horrified at Kagome, suddenly opened her mouth and tremulously whispered, "You…are…are you going to tell?"_

_Kagome, still looking savagely at Kikyo, said shortly but still loudly, "were you ever going to?"_

_Kikyo looked at Kagome with wide-eyes and said softly, "will…you?"_

_Kagome only looked at Kikyo, not answering but glaring at her sister. Her perfect sister, flawless twin standing before her vulnerable and horrified. Kikyo's true form, her imperfect form was now completely naked in Kagome's eyes, revealed that night when Inuyasha had come. Kagome could feel anger consume her and rage contort her figure. _

_Kikyo had been talking with the boy who had been stealing from their garden, sitting with him, willingly giving him food and company, even looking at him like she never looked at anybody before. She hadn't told on him, she hadn't reported him, but she had helped him and stayed with him. _

_Kagome boiled with fury. Kikyo had acted like she was so perfect, looking at her imperfect double Kagome down her nose, when she fed and looked after one of the cities delinquents. Why did she have the right to appear perfect and make Kagome appear like her flawed extra? Why did she have the right to act like the perfect classmate, sibling, relative, and daughter when she helped Inuyasha? How could she be perfect in everyone else's eyes and only appear true in Kagome's and Inuyasha's?_

_Why did she appear perfect, making Kagome inferior, unneeded and superfluous when her true nature was not?_

_Then, as Kagome looked at her, she breathed and yelled again, "Why would you care if I turned in the thief? Why would you care at all? Why would you care at all, why didn't you turn him in when you first saw him? How come you continued to be with him and give him food and company, why do you care at all for him?"_

_Kikyo looked weakly and still terrified at Kagome and then said her voice tearful, "…you can't turn him in, you just cant."_

"_Why can't I?' said Kagome, breathing hard._

_Kikyo looked fearfully and close to tears at Kagome, saying frightfully, "you…you can't, I-I wont let you. He's…he's the only…"_

_At this point, Kikyo stopped and only looked at Kagome with wide eyes, tears welling up inside them. Kagome arrogantly looked at her pitiful state, with rage and anger. Perfect Kikyo, flawless, perfect Kikyo, crying over the sake of a mere vagabond and thief?_

"_He's the only what? The only person who's ever stolen from us before, the only person who thinks your perfect from the millions of others out there?" said Kagome furiously. "What is he the only of, Kikyo...What is he to you?"_

_Kikyo looked at Kagome for a moment longer and then said, "he's the only one…who's accepted me for who I…really am."_

"_What do you mean?" said Kagome, anger tainting her words, "the only one who's accepted you fro who you really are? The only one out of the thousands who love you, adore you, the perfect you? The perfect you who's beautiful, wise and adored by everybody? What do you mean he's the only one who's accepted for who you really are—?"_

"_No!" said Kikyo, her voice suddenly strong but still tremulous. She didn't look at Kagome, her head turned around and her eyes angrily scrunched in order to prevent tears. "He's…" she said, breathing hard and shakily, "He's the only one who's accepted me for the real me! Not the perfect me who's adored by people and loved by her peers and parents, not the perfect, flawless Kikyo you know! The real one, the ugly one behind the mask, the imperfect one who's feared and shunned, the one who ceases to exist!"_

"_I don't get you!" said Kagome, her voice still loud. _

"_You wouldn't!" said Kikyo, and her eyes welled with tears as she said; "you wouldn't because…you're the one who's really beautiful, naturally beautiful and doesn't need to wear a mask! You don't know the true me…the one who's imperfect, the one who's alone…and afraid."_

_Then she stopped, her words surprising Kagome and muting her as she continued, a tear rolling down her cheek, "You're…you're the one who's beautiful Kagome. The me you know….the one you see…isn't Kikyo, but a beautiful facade who only exists…because she wants to be needed; she wants to be…shunned no longer. The one you know only fights her humanity and continues to be utterly alone. And she was alone…"_

_At this point, Kikyo began to flow with tears, her teardrops clouding her words. She said tremulously and barely as Kagome wordlessly watched her cry, "…She was alone…until she met someone like her…the one who would come at night and fight his own humanity…the one who was also alone. He was alone like her…the true Kikyo…but he stayed by her, the imperfect her, and he was the only one who accepted the true her."_

_Kagome watched Kikyo cry and then trip on her own feet as she sobbed. As she fell, Kagome caught her in her arms and felt her shoulder-length hair fan her face and her tears dampen her clothing. She could feel Kikyo's words crash down on her and felt her ragged breath as she breathed into her chest, helpless. Kikyo's words had hit her numbly and then sunk into her. But these words felt like a lie. The true Kikyo calling her 'perfect' and 'beautiful' felt like a lie. Kikyo…was truly beautiful, not Kagome. The one who cried into her…the one who fell apart into her…_

"_Please," sobbed Kikyo, her voice muffled in her sobs and Kagome's clothing, "please…don't let h-him…g-get caught, Ka-Kagome…"_

_Kagome looked blankly at her black-haired head for a moment and then said, feeling her voice tremble and her eyes and ears hears and see Kikyo for the first time, "no…I wont let him get caught…Kikyo."_

_And after that, the twin girls had grown closer and closer until they were their true forms around one another from that day. But still, Kagome thought, it isn't me who is beautiful, Kikyo…_


	3. Chapter 3: Who Are You To Me?

**Thank you for reading the…what is it, third chapter of Lovely Mask? Yeah, that's it. And in this story, there are no demons, priestess, and people with inhuman powers.**

**Twinkle, twinkle masquerade,**

**Hidden beneath the charade,**

**Twinkle, twinkle, simple shade,**

**When the price of love is paid,**

**Do we quit this dance we've played?**

**Beneath the guise of a masquerade.**

Kikyo could see the vague shadows cross the pavement as she moved through the city, alone as her bag bounced at her side. She could feel the cool breeze of the autumnal season sweep her; create an invisible steam as it fanned her burning flesh. Everything was hot. Everything was hot.

This must have been how Kagome felt in her thick sweater all the time at school. But…even if it was to herself only…Kagome was beginning to change, something stirred, some life of the deal they had made.

Even if it was so minor, so soon that it could not be detected or felt, Kikyo knew that some life stirred in Kagome in the form of her _true form_ as the deal began to run its course, like poison through the body or two twin sisters. It was beginning to make its way, through Kagome, through the people she encountered.

_What about me?_ Thought Kikyo as she passed the people on the pavement and the cars and bicycles in the street beside her.

"_Don't run forever, Miss Higurashi."_

Kikyo stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, feeling the cool zephyrs of the autumn wrap themselves like gauze around her. Unconsciously raising a hand to her chest, she could remember those words drift through her memories.

"I wonder," she said aloud in nothing more than a whisper, "what sensei meant."

She left, her back turned to the road around her as her dark hair wafted around her in the breeze, beginning her walk down the road of the deal…but she knew the road would extend more and more, with the people she met and realized, until she reached the end.

…

She looked exactly like her…no, she was different somehow. Not by just how she looked, but in the air in which she moved, the atmosphere was different then the one of Kikyo's.

As she looked silently at her, Sango felt her legs give way beneath her and sent her crashing to the cement grounds.

"Hey!" Kagome gasped, running towards her as she collapsed on her folded legs, tucked beneath her bag fell to the ground and her skirt scattered itself in folds around her.

Kagome reached for her and said, "are…are you okay?"

Sango merely stared at the ground for a moment where Kagome's knees were placed and, opening her mouth numbly, felt hands on her shoulders. They were ungloved, soft against the thin fabric of her light coat and shirt. And the face above her…was concerned, but warm. A kind face…kind hands on her shoulders, and warm eyes looking down at her.

Sango opened her mouth dumbly and, feeling angry at herself, she staggered to her feet, grabbing her back and turned away from Kagome as she said, "hey, wait—!"

Sango could feel the heat of her body burn into her senses as she said to the Kagome looking worriedly at her back, "Its okay, I'm fine…"

But then Sango felt the numb realization and was once again sent to her knees, crashing weakly, numbly. Kagome hurried to her aid as she fell to her hands and knees, her hair falling out of its band and tumbling down to hide her face.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid—!_ She thought angrily as she clutched the floor for weak support, her body still trembling. _Why are you so weak…? Stop trembling and—!_

"Hey, are you okay?" said Kagome as she reached her. Through the curtains of dark hair over the sides of her face and ears, Sango could insensibly hear her words. She could feel her gaze and her presence beside her.

Kagome watched as she saw this girl tremble and barely support herself. She couldn't help it, but reach out and drop her mask to reveal herself. Seeing this girl so helpless and weak as she barely kept herself from lying atop the ground…reminded her of Kikyo so much.

Sango tried to stop the trembling, reducing it to barely quivering flesh as her figure seethed. And she turned her profile beneath the curtains of hair to see Kagome looking at her pitifully.

She tried to open her mouth to tell her that she was okay, to lie to her and herself that nothing was wrong, but as her lips parted, her breath stuttered in her throat and tears appeared in her eyes.

Kagome's eyes widened as she began to helplessly watch this girl stream with sudden tears as she shook, not crying, but the salty tears falling down her cheeks and flecking the cement with the sound of raindrops.

She couldn't help it, she didn't even understand why, but tears rolled down her cheeks effortlessly, cutting her breath to jagged gasps and stunning her thoughts of, _No, why the hell are you…stop being so weak…get a grip on yourself…stop it…! _The tears wouldn't stop even though she tried so hard to stop their flowing; they continued to flow without any thought. They wouldn't obey her thoughts, her mused commands as they continued to stream down her pale face, nor would her shaking body.

She gave in…to the tears flowing down her face…to her quivering body…and to the arms of the girl beside her.

…

"Are you sure you're—"

"Yeah…don't worry about it…I'm fine."

Kagome and Sango sat on the bench by the café, the smell of the baking goods wafting from the opened window. Kagome could see the glazed breads and frosted treats lined by the glass windows to entice customers within the establishment to purchase a product. The street light flashed by intersection away from the open corner of cement by the shop, where a tree nearby from one of the many that lined the streets shook its wondrously colored foliage. Kagome could see the children playing hopscotch on the cement corner of walkway.

Kagome had purchased both her and Sango a Chinese sweet from the nearby café, a delicate confection of steamed, glutinous rice meal, sprinkled with colored sugars, strands of candied peel and rose-petal jam.

She watched as Sango sat quietly with her hands holding the rice-paper wrapper in her lap in which a slice of the confection laid, her scarf thrown carelessly around her neck and over her shoulders. She had stopped crying for a while now and sat currently silent on the bench with Kagome at her side.

She was beautiful with dark brown hair that looked nearly black and magenta lining over her dark eyes. She reminded Kagome of Kikyo in several ways, as with her mature air and appearance. But she was different too, very different from the sister she had grown up with and known.

Then her eyes met Kagome's as she turned her head to see her staring at her, causing Kagome to blushingly turn away and pretend to be considering her treat.

"Um…" said Sango, surprising Kagome as she began to speak, "...thanks for what you did back there."

"Oh, it was nothing!" said Kagome earnestly.

Sango looked at her for a moment silently before she said softly, "…it was pretty pathetic back there, wasn't it? That sight…me…"

Sango stopped, continuing to look at her confection-supporting hands until Kagome said, "No, it wasn't…"

"Thanks for saying so," Sango cut in, still not looking at her as Kagome continued to watch her, "…but it was pathetic. Truly…pathetic…"

Kagome saw Sango's figure tightened and was quite for a moment with the girl with whom she sat. Then she said, looking at her, "your name's Sango right?"

"Oh!" said Sango, turning to her and momentarily forgetting her musings. "I didn't tell you my name, did I? Well, I am Sango Ikehara, first year in high school."

"I'm Kagome Higurashi, also a first year," said Kagome. "It's…um, nice to meet you,"

"Thank you," said Sango kindly and for the first time, Kagome could see a smile across her face. She truly was beautiful, even more so as she smiled, "you as well,"

Kagome was silent for a moment, considering deeply whether to ask this question or not as she held her treat. Sango apparently could tell of her worrying as she saw her expression change, her body tighten and the silence pursue.

"Ask your question," she said to her, bringing Kagome out of her thoughts.

"Hmm?" she said as she snapped into reality.

"You have a question, don't you?" said Sango, looking at her. "I can see it on your face. If you do, please, ask."

"But," said Kagome, "I'm not really sure if it's my bu—"

"Please, ask," Sango encouraged her.

Kagome looked at her silently for a long time, her expression changing as it strained and she worried. She considered the question, but…

"I really shouldn't—" she started, but Sango cut her off as she said, "No, ask, its fine."

Kagome, trying to grasp her courage, said, "Um, can…can I ask…why you were…"

"Crying?"

"Um…yes," said Kagome quietly.

Silence ensued as Sango looked away for a moment into the colored tree beside them, its leaves quivering in its top. As the silence continued, Kagome said hastily, "but, you don't have to answer if you don't…"

"No," said Sango quietly. "It's not that I don't want to…it's just sort of hard to explain." Then she looked away from the tree and back to Kagome saying, "I…can't really say that I know why I was crying either, the tears just came, I couldn't control them. I know it sounds stupid, but—"

"No, it doesn't," said Kagome honestly and she remembered when she had encountered (literally bumped into) Inuyasha in the halls and the tears that had come, unexplainable and overflowing, "I understand…"

"Yes," said Sango and continued with saying, "…I don't really know why I… why my heart felt painful. I guess…I guess…well, when you care about something and give yourself up to them, you're bound to get hurt and you're bound to break."

As Kagome heard her, she could feel her own confusion. Her words were quite but emotion surged through them.

"Giving yourself away is a careless thing to do, but…sometimes you have no choice, for it is your own heart that gives itself up without control. And it will break, for it is so fragile, those hands that hold it is bound to hurt it or damage it. That's why…it's so stupid to do that, to care for something or to love something and let yourself get hurt. A foolish way to get hurt or to get broken…when you give your happiness up that way. But…"

"So you gave it away and got hurt?" said Kagome, trying to comprehend.

Sango considered this thought for a moment and then said, "…I don't know, but something was hurt by someone. A part of me that gave its happiness away and let itself become shattered."

She let out a bitter laugh, saying, "Its…a foolish way to get broken, a foolish way to get hurt, isn't it? Pathetic…but I don't think it was this persons heart that hurt me…not more than my own. I am pathetic; I don't even really know what I'm trying to say."

Kagome silently looked at Sango as she stopped, a small, bitter smile played across her face. Depending on another's happiness for your own…a foolish way to get hurt when you give your happiness away…when you give a part of yourself away.

"Did you love this person?"

Sango's eyes widened with the abrupt question addressed to her and saw that Kagome's had snapped full open as well. Kagome quickly clamped her hand to her mouth, feeling color and heat in her face.

She looked helplessly at Sango for a moment, stammering through her finger-barred mouth, "No—I…I didn't—I mean, I d-didn't mean to ask…"

The question had popped into her head so suddenly that it had as well raced from her lips. Kagome frantically tried to explain, still wondering rapidly what in the Seven Hells had possessed her to ask 'did you love this person' so bluntly. As she continued to stammer, Sango continued to look curiously at her.

"Um…I'm not usually this blunt…the words just—just sort of slipped out…I mean," Kagome tried to explain, "Usually…usually when you care about someone, you give yourself away to their happiness and their affections, no matter the risk. Even when you sometimes don't want to."

Kagome stopped, trying to stop herself from saying anything else she'd regret. She just continued to look at Sango, who looked in consternation back.

"Its…okay," said Sango after a while and continued, "I…think I sort of get what you're trying to say. In a way…well, I don't know what I really felt for this person except…"

As Sango said these words, her face began to glow with color and she shot up from the bench, saying quietly, "…um…thanks again for what you did for me, Kagome. Really, thanks."

Kagome watched as the girl began to walk away from the bench and towards the intersection, her hair billowing softly and her flat heels clopping against the pavement. Then she said, turning back to Kagome one last time, "You're very kind. I'll see you tomorrow."

Kagome sat as she watched Sango leave the corner and travel on the islands in the thick roads, disappearing from sight as she rounded a corner on the sidewalk. Getting up herself and tossing the rice paper into a nearby garbage can, Kagome held the strap of her back pack and wondered as she left back to the house;

'_I'll see you tomorrow'…that's new._

…

The streets flashed in the colors of the nearly colorless pavement, black asphalt of the streets, the brick and metal buildings, and the trees lining the roads in the colors of brilliant scarlet, auburn, and drying brown. Inuyasha could see the colors flash by him, the people walking along the road and the vehicles within it as he walked past.

He shook his head vigorously, sending his silvery hair into the sunlight, catching very strand in a blinding light.

He wasn't observing the people walking past him, registering their stars or glares of whispering or mutters, he was barely thinking except for one thought.

_I'm conceited as hell._

He was thinking that one single thought the entire time he was walking through the city, eventually making his way past the cramped buildings, hoards of people in to the more suburban parts. Where houses still lined the asphalt street that forked into many directions, where the trees grew in more abundance, colored with the autumn season.

He could only think of two things: her face and that single sentence.

When she cried he had wiped away her tears, he hadn't lashed out at her for bumping into him, for speaking to him, for being in his presence. He hadn't, had he?

He tried not to think about it as he continued to walk through the suburban area and he tried not to care. He had only cared for two people in his life; his mother and Kikyo. His mother had died and what remained of him and Kikyo he didn't know…nothing, barely any feelings of affection of caring touched him. He had learned to stay away from those emotions, to brush them off.

_I'm just conceited!_ He thought savagely as he shook firmly his head, _I don't give a damn about her, I don't care! _

_I don't care, I don't care, I don't…_

"Wake up, Puppy!!"

Inuyasha was brought out of his thoughts as he felt the sharp heel of a shoe slam into his head, sending him skidding back on the pavement on his hands and knee. He could feel the ache of the blow at the side of his head, causing his head to whip up to the presence of whom or what had hit him, his golden eyes fierce and glaring.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, damn wolf-boy?!"

There stood a boy, about the same age of the silver-haired Inuyasha crouching on the pavement. He had thick, nearly black hair tied up into a ponytail at the back of his head and icy blue eyes. His body was clad in a black school uniform, opened in the middle to show the white shirt covering his chest beneath. Koga Okami stood before Inuyasha, grinning to reveal his wolf-like fangs and his blue eyes narrowed.

"Waking you up, puppy, with all the faces you were making there." said Koga in his rough, masculine voice, "daydreaming back there?"

Inuyasha grinned maliciously, springing to his feet and saying, "Yeah, but I'll be putting you to sleep for good!" And he sprang at him, his hand bawled into a fist. As he leapt at him, Koga crouched down to his knees on the cool ground, barely avoiding Inuyasha's blow as his fist touched the top of his head. Inuyasha leapt back as his blow met the empty air a couple of feet away from Koga as he straightened up.

"Nearly got me there," said Koga, a sigh of relief as he threw his bag back. As his bag met the ground, Koga leapt forward quickly, drawing back his fist and saying, "But it will be me putting you to sleep!"

The footsteps barely made a sound as they crossed the empty pavement and approached Inuyasha, sending a strong fist at him. Inuyasha, now on guard, leaned to the side as the blow grazed his cheek and caught Koga's arm in his hands.

"You're the one daydreaming now, wolf-boy!" He shouted and, Koga watching in unmovable horror, drew back his leg and then sent in up with the knee digging into the boy's jaw. The sharp sound of the blow echoed in the empty air as Koga was sent flying back on the pavement, skidding across it sharply with the power of the buffet.

Inuyasha grinned as the pavement unveiled through the clouds of dust the figure of Koga Okami atop it, lying with his upper torso heaved up from the ground by the support of his elbow. Koga, gasping slightly, drew a hand over his mouth, wiping away the free saliva speckled with blood from his lip and chin.

"Dreaming yet, damn wolf?" said Inuyasha arrogantly, looking down at Koga's state.

Koga glared up at Inuyasha, his ice blue eyes narrowed beneath his dark brows. Carefully and slowly, he heaved himself up form the ground with his arms dangling at his side and the bloody line wiped free from his chin.

"Koga!"

Koga didn't turn but could hear them coming and Inuyasha saw them arrive behind him, gasping for breath. Hakkaku and Ginta, both the cousins of Koga, clad in their school uniforms looked at him blankly as he stood slightly lopsidedly on the ground.

The two both turned form Koga to see Inuyasha, standing with a sharp but short line of blood across his cheek and dirt on his clothing.

"Koga!" gasped Ginta and him and Hakkaku began to run towards him but were stopped as Koga shouted at them;

"No, stay out of this you two! Get lost! This is my battle!"

Hakkaku and Ginta watched silently as they froze on the spot after Koga's words, watching him stagger up to his feet with the back of his hand brought to his mouth and his lips curving and parting to reveal his straight row of sharp teeth as he grinned.

"Got me there, cur," he said arrogantly, drooping his hand from his mouth to before him as he poised to resume his fight. "But this time you won't be so lucky!"

"Luck had nothing to do with it!" said Inuyasha and the two suddenly pounced at one another, bringing their fists and kicks at one another in the air of the empty pavement.

Hakkaku and Ginta watched anxiously as Inuyasha threw blow after blow at Koga, often grazing him but never landing a hard blow, and Koga buffeted him, never managing as well to land anymore than a scratch on the silver-haired body.

"This isn't good," Ginta muttered as he watched, sweat beading his brow.

"What do you mean?" said Hakkaku, whipping his head from the battle for a second to turn at him. "This is great; those two are like professional fighters or something the way their connecting and defending blows!"

"I didn't mean that _they_ weren't good!" said Ginta. "I mean, that it isn't good that they are fighting like this. They've been competing for years with one another who's the strongest and that's why Koga's all banged up like this all the time."

"Ah, it's nothing, Koga's never really injured." said Hakkaku airily. "Besides, as you said before, they've been fighting for years, and it can't help another one or two more."

Ginta looked at Hakkaku, opening his mouth as if to retort, but decided against it and continued to watch the two fight.

Koga and Inuyasha had fought many times before in their pasts, insulting one another, disagreeing, and lashing out at anybody who tried to stop them. It was because of the reputation Inuyasha had eared before, before he met Kikyo and after the death of his parents. He had nowhere to call home, no one to care for, to give a damn for. His own brother couldn't bear to look at him but forced himself to give him enough money to survive so that his image would not shatter.

People thought of him as a menace, a dirty mongrel forced to live in the dirt. He was hated because of his state and he hated them for it. All of them. For calling him dirt, for telling him about the pathetic father and unworthy mother he had once had. He hated them all. For mocking him, being near him, kicking at him, for even looking at him with their cold, merciless eyes. He was no better than dirt to them.

"_Go to hell!"_ he'd tell them as he lashed out at them, attacked those who attacked him and destroy those who approached. _"Die and go to hell, all of you!"_

After Inuyasha had entered middle school, with the help of Kikyo, things were no different. His reputation as did his temper and tendency to lash out, remained. Like all the other, Koga thought of him as dirt, as the bloody dirt that he looked upon.

And a fierce rivalry developed and flourished between them. They fought against one another, in the school building as they toppled over desks and sent chairs smashing against walls.

"_Stop it, both of you!"_

_Koga lay on the floor, against the wall with Hakkaku and Ginta gathered around him and a ring of students and teachers at the scene. The students whispered as a teacher barely restrained the struggling Inuyasha, his arms holding his back. _

"_Not so tough now, are you?" Inuyasha shouted as the teacher barely held him back, his lip bleeding and his face scratched up, "Are you so tough now, damn wolf?!"_

It was pure hate that now existed between them, a hate that forced them to fight to prove the one who was better, who was superior, who deserved a right to exist. And the hate had only with held, endured through the past fights, yelling teachers and muttering and shrieking students, and the breaking school building and where ever the fight was held.

Inuyasha sent a blow at Koga with his fists, missing him as he leapt up into the air and sent numerous blows back at Inuyasha. A silvery garbage can was sent crashing down, the metallic crash emanating through the air through the many punched and kicks whistling in the air. They continued to punch and block, to kick and dodge as Hakkaku and Ginta watched helplessly.

A huge smashing sound rose from the dented telephone post beneath Koga's kick, a footprint stamping the wood. Inuyasha continued to kick Koga and Koga continued to fight back until the both of them were far apart, breathing heavily with sweat pouring down their flesh and scratched marking their figures.

"It's time to end this, wolf-boy!" said Inuyasha, breathing jaggedly.

"Koga, you can't—"

"Shut up, Ginta, this is my fight, now leave! Go away, now!"

Ginta and Hakkaku helplessly watched Koga glare at them and then turned to leave, their footsteps echoing in their wakes until they could no longer be heard. Koga turned away from the spot where they had once been and said, breathing hard and grinning, "Now, no more distractions…!"

"You shouldn't have sent them away, Koga, who'll carry back your corpse?" said Inuyasha and leapt at him.

"I should be the one telling you that!" said Koga and leapt at Inuyasha as he sped at him on the pavement. They could barely hear their footsteps. The air was fast and swift, carrying the scent of the flowers of autumn, burned away by the scent of the sweat and blood and steaming flesh. As they sailed at one another, the sound of a blow hitting its destination echoed through the air.

Blood specked the pavement, so softly like the sound of raindrops and Koga and Inuyasha both stood fists in one another faces as they both met their destinations.

They both skidded back on the pavement on their backs, dust rising beneath their sliding bodies and they stopped on the ground. The blood on the pavement looked like drops of darkening red liquid, like the colors of the autumn leave dusting the road. They both lay on the ground.

"…."

"….."

"……"

"….d-damn…."

"Damn…it…"

Inuyasha could feel his body burn, the side of his face ache and throb as if his jaw had been broken. He could see, as he got up, Koga heaving himself up as well on the cold pavement. His eyes were partly closed, as if pained by the blinding, un-existent sunlight drowning him. His whole body burned and ached painfully, too painful, too hard.

All too painful.

_Damn, I…can't move well,_ thought Inuyasha angrily and wearily as he endeavored to raise himself from the ground. He barely managed to stagger to his feet, trembling and leaning. His arms and legs felt like lead, his lower limbs unwilling to move from the ground and to break the position in which they were poised. He could walk forward, but his body was weak.

Inuyasha looked before him, feeling the ominous shadow of Koga over him as he poised to fight yet again, but was too weak. Koga looked at him, grinning bitterly, and saying, "It looks like a win for me, puppy."

Koga drew back his fist and Inuyasha, knowing he hadn't the strength to block or counter it, poised his arms crossed over his face and chest. And as he sent this fist forward—

"Stop!"

Koga was stopped a he heard a girls voice reach him and he turned his head over his shoulder to see black hair, hazel eyes, but not the figure of the girl he could recall. She was the same age, but her air was different, fiercer, fresher, and stronger. Her eyes were set determinedly into her soft, peach face and she approached the two boys, at their fights end.

"You…" said Inuyasha, recognizing her after a while for the girl he had encountered in the halls, seen in the garden, and knew as Kikyo's twin sister.

Kagome placed herself a few feet away from the two, knowing it wasn't her place to halt this tousle and not even knowing why she had stopped it. She couldn't stop herself when the recognized the silver-haired boy she had known scouring the gardens and leaning in solitude against the walls of the school. She couldn't help the impulse that set itself upon her.

Koga's fist dropped to his side and he looked straight into the face of the girl who had stopped him from destroying the boy he had long thirsted to beat, who had beaten him, who he had developed a fierce rivalry.

She was beautiful.

Koga froze as he looked at her, feeling her scared but intent face upon him and then turned away, retreating into the empty streets with a slight stagger in his step, his hand in his pocket as he leaned only barely to the side. Kagome, feeling her heart rapidly beat, froze as she looked at him leave, not even turning away as when he was lost from sight until—

"What do you think you were doing, girl?!"

Kagome's face whipped around to see Inuyasha behind her, glaring down at her. She didn't answer, paralyzed still partly by what she had done.

"I'll repeat, 'what do you think you were doing, girl?'" said Inuyasha angrily as he looked at her.

"What do I think I was…?" said Kagome slowly as she looked at him.

"Interfering in our fight like that," said Inuyasha, not waiting for her to finish. "What did you think you were doing?"

"I was helping you." said Kagome simply as he glared at her, thinking it the obvious answer.

Inuyasha looked for a moment at her, his eyebrows shooting far into his thick bangs. She had come…to help him? He could feel her gaze on him and his own body burn by the realization of her words. Then, whipping his head around, said softly, "I…didn't need your help, you interfering in our fight like that. You should…mind your own business."

"What do you mean?" said Kagome, "of course you needed my help; Koga was going to kill you there!"

"What—he…he wasn't going to beat me!" said Inuyasha angrily, forgetting his feelings towards Kagome's earlier comment. "And I didn't need your help, wench!"

At his last sentence, Kagome felt a sudden feeling hit her. As he angrily shouted at her, called her 'wench', saying he didn't need her help…emotion suddenly boiled in her words.

"You can't say that you didn't need my help!" said Kagome suddenly loudly, catching Inuyasha off guard as his eyes dilated. She didn't even know why the sudden anger boiled in her, a feeling beginning to grow, "…and don't insult me after I tried to help _you_!"

"I told you, I didn't need your help!" Inuyasha angrily responded as he heard her shout and felt her glare upon him.

With her unknown and newborn anger Kagome said heatedly, "Well, I'm telling you, you did need my help, if you wanted to survive Koga that is."

"I didn't need you interfering in my fight and I didn't need your help!" said Inuyasha angrily still, clenching his fists at his sides. "Besides, I wasn't going to lose to that mangy cu—"

"It didn't look like that to me, Koga drawing back his fist and you not even defending yourself!" Kagome shouted.

Inuyasha glared angrily at her, her equally enraged face looking back at him with narrow eyes, tightened brow and bawled hands at her sides. "Well, it doesn't matter how it looked like to you because it wasn't your battle, wench!"

"I know that!" said Kagome hotly, her anger burning more as he called her, yet again, 'wench'. "I know that, but I'm sure anyone would have thought you needed help in their right minds!—"

"Which I didn—"

"Which you did!" Kagome interrupted angrily.

"Your opinion doesn't matter, it wasn't your battle to interfere with!" said Inuyasha, anger burning at his voice.

"Well I did interfere with it, to help you!" Kagome shouted, her voice rising drastically.

"Well, I didn't want your help, wench, just looking makes me angry!" said Inuyasha angrily. The words left his lips and he stood, still trembling from weakness and anger as he glared at Kagome. She didn't respond at first, merely glaring weakly at him with wider eyes and, feeling them sting without realization why, shouted as she turned, "Fine, this _wench _wont help you anymore!!"

Kagome bumped past Inuyasha, her body burning and her eyes framed with fuzzy stinging, and ran as fast as she could past him towards her house through the empty streets.

Inuyasha stared after her, looking at her run through the streets filled with trembling light-speckled shadow and angrily turning away himself, trying to brush away the slightest regret at his words and anger at himself.

Kagome ran, feeling the wind rush around her as she continued forward through the streets that were never passed through with cars at this time. Shadows of treetops feel over her. She could feel her eyes sting and anger roil in her. She didn't even know why she was angry. She didn't have the slightest clue except the irrational emotion burst like wildfire in her and flourished, spreading and painfully burning her. The anger didn't make sense, and thinking about it only caused the wildfire to spread in her heart.

_Stupid Inuyasha! Stupid, stupid, stupid…!_

But…as she thought this angrily, the rage burning inside her, another thought chimed in her head, one so soft she couldn't even hear it;

_Stupid Kagome, for being so weak to get so angry, for getting so weak to burn with rage and tears…_

She fled into the streets and soon met the house she had so long known the door slightly ajar and sent it flying open. She considered slamming it, but thought to herself, _God; you must look really infantile right now._

Instead she kicked off her shoes and threw her bag onto the floor. She could see Mrs. Higurashi in the kitchen retrieving a pan and a bag of rice, saying as she noticed her enter and pass, "Oh, hello Kagome, you're home late, how was everything…?" But Kagome couldn't help but pass her and climb the stairs to the upper level hurriedly. She could feel her socks slide against the smooth wooden steps, but ignored that and raced up the steps. As she reached the upper floor, she headed through the hall and passed Sota and Kaede's rooms, the two playing in the boy's room with chopsticks.

"Hey, Kagome!" said 6-year-old Kaede, turning her head to the door as she passed. "Wanna play chibi-katana with us?"

But Kagome passed her without looking into Sota's room where the two were playing and, as she entered her own room, stepped over to her bed and dropped into the thick comfort of the sheets and pillows.

"What's wrong with her?" said Kaede, sticking her head into the hall that ended into Kagome and Kikyo's room where she saw Kagome's feet sticking from her bed.

"Dunno," said Sota as he looked beside her with his chopsticks pocking out of his mouth, "but it's probably nothing, don't worry about it."

"Okay…" said Kaede, slightly concernedly and the two resumed their chibi-katana showdown, in the form of swinging around their chopsticks to see who could touch the other hand and disable the opponent first.

Kagome lay on her bed, her cheek melting into the comfort of her pillow as she stared angrily at the wicker cabinet beside her bed. Her body melted into the comfort of her bed and her body burned with anger. She wasn't even aware of why she was so angry, or why she could not open her mouth in fear of breaking into tears.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid Inuyasha, that's the last time I'm gonna even look at you to spare you from getting angry!_

Kagome lay on her bed, holding her pillow to the side of her face as she lay and thinking of the boy she had seen earlier, who had aroused such anger and rage. And for a moment as she thought, her mind raced with a word that didn't even find itself in her thoughts, bringing on a different question than the ones she were thinking before but with the same beginning;

_Why?_

…

Kikyo sat in the garden, her gloves thrown at her side and wearing jeans as not to get her regular skirts dirty. She held the dying plant in her hand, the dying plant of a hagi that had not made it for the autumn's time. She could feel the long, wind-tangled, dry fronds in her gloved hands, so gentle and fragile.

The sky was dark, the horizon still bright with the color of pale blue slowly ascending into the atmosphere in the color of dark navy. As Kikyo looked up into the sky, the own darkness crushed her slowly; the beautiful darkness, the paralyzing sweet and sad cynical realization of it; streaked with the lightest clouds, tainted with the darkest twilight.

Kikyo dropped the dying flower in her hand and lay back, leaning against a slope of air as she looked into the sky, past the side and eaves of the house where lights flickered in the windows.

Like that plant…would she fade away in the beginning of the change, of the deal, or would she come into bloom? It was so beautiful but so fragile and it had died.

"Where will I go?" said Kikyo in no more than a whisper. "Inuyasha…where will you take me?"

But as she said these words, a vision flitted in her mind, so vague it could hardly be seen. It was vague and it flitted, like carp in the waters; a vision of dark hair, midnight black…

Kagome tucked her head in the pillow but she felt the emotions fade slowly…slowly fade. She was thinking of him…but why?

Where would she go was what both of the twins were thinking, as Kikyo looked up into the darkening sky and Kagome at the window where the horizon still appeared bright.

_And where will this deal take me?_

**Okay, that's the end of this chapter, a shorter chapter that starred much more of Kagome and Inuyasha then Kikyo. We have also been introduced to Koga, Hakkaku, and Ginta. **

**Next chapter will be focused more on Sango (and what happened between her and Miroku), Ayame, Rin, and the teachers, so please read and review!**


	4. Chapter 4: True Her

**Thanks for continuing to read Lovely Mask and sorry I haven't been writing chapters so long or updating quick, I've sort of been having a writers-block… But here it goes!**

**There are no demons, mikos, half-demons, etc.**

"Maybe I should…no, this'll add some flavor to it…wait, then again, he likes sweet-and-sour…doesn't he…? No, he doesn't…does he? Urr, I don't know!"

Rin, still holding the leek in her hand, bent over the kitchen counter with frustration and put her head in her hands, her fingers tangling her bangs falling from her dark, tied-up hair. It was dark, night, a bit after seven from what Rin could tell looking outside the half-opened window. For a moment she continued to angrily groan, frustrated at the food and spices that lay before her, the utensils, and herself.

Then Rin straightened up and, still tightly grasping the vegetable in her hands, and looked determinedly at the copper pot before her. She had gotten back to the house late, later than she usually did as she saw the vague, light figure of the waning moon in the sky through the interwoven tree branches.

She could hear the clock tick and the television on in the living room connected to the kitchen; the voices of a short-skirted, wavy haired girl yelling to a boy in a shrilly voice at the top of her lungs as the long, white-haired boy (_it was a boy…wasn't it?_ thought Rin vaguely as she popped her head out of the kitchen to peer at the television screen) in a red-robe with a ridiculously over-sized sword slung over his shoulder ran after her.

"I wonder why Sesshomaru-sensei isn't back yet…?" thought Rin vaguely as she turned back to her cooking. For a moment she pondered this and then saying suddenly, "wait, I should have dinner done by now!" returned to her work.

She had changed from her school clothing and now wore an apron of white over her tank-top and jean-skirt. Her hair was pulled back, as she always kept it while cooking with the exception of her stray bangs.

Young and vibrant, also filled to the brim with energy, Rin loved to cook. But that didn't mean she was…_good_ at the exercise. Not to say that she couldn't cook a bowl of white rice without a burn on a single grain or boil a pot of soumen (_noodles_) successfully…except, that was the limit of what she could do with a bag full of groceries, a cabinet full of spices, and a pot and pan.

But that didn't stop her from concocting more than she was capable (or a mixture of products impossible to cook together in such a fashion that they actually tasted tolerable).

Rin was imaginative and always willing to cook with whatever ingredients one would hand over to her, even if it was a dish consisting of plum, pear, seaweed, pepper, sweet bean jam, anchovy liquorish sauce, and eel fried over a blazing fire, shredded in a dicer and served on a wok. Sesshomaru knew this from first-hand experience. Many first-hand experiences.

Rin, suddenly bawling her hand in a fist and looking determinedly at the pan before her said strongly, "Okay, I'll just wing-it then, do whatever comes to mind!"

With this sudden stroke of determination and resolve, Rin drew the wok from the cabinet and turned it on, set the dicer on the counter and threw a bag of jasmine rice into the boiling water of the pot.

With the water boiling and sunflower oil springing from the heating wok, Rin began to peel the shallots and dice the leeks, throwing them both into the dicer and sending it on. With a few cloves of garlic, chili pepper sauce, bean jam, and onions into the dicer, rice and rice noodles boiling in the pot, and fermented tofu in the wok, Rin began to cook.

_Sesshomaru-sensei won't mind if I use some of the white wine for the sauce…_ thought Rin as she sprinkled some in the wok and sent it bubbling with hot liquid.

She was fevering, bursting when she heard a knock on the door and the ring of the bell. _Uh-oh, I haven't finished yet! _She thought as the ring sounded again.

"Just a moment!" she called out of the kitchen throwing the chunky, thick sauce from the dicer onto the wok, draining the rice and rice noodles, throwing them onto a plate and showering them with the sauce of tofu-shallots-leeks-garlic-chili pepper sauce-bean jam-onions.

Rin smiled as she covered her dish with the wok's top and ran over to the door. She grasped the doorknob as she passed the television set, just as the short-skirted girl and the red-robed boy with the humungous sword in the anime had embraced after defeating an especially fearsome enemy, saying frantically, "Oh, I'm so sorry; I just finished dinner, sorry Sesshomaru-sen—"

But she stopped. And Rin saw Ayame standing on the steps, wringing her hands and looking at the ground until she turned up to see her dark-haired friends face, smiling nervously.

"Oh," said Ayame, reddening a little, "oh, um, hi Rin…I…I, um, thought— I wondered if I could talk to you for a mo— I'm sorry if I disturbed you—"

"No, no, it's fine, really!" said Rin, both confused and elated to see Ayame on her doorstep. "Come on in, Sesshomaru-sensei isn't in yet."

"Are you sure—"

"Yeah, of course, I insist!" said Rin and pulled her friends wrists and led her into the house. Ayame kicked off her shoes and freed herself from Rin's grasp, pinching her nose and saying, "What—what's that _smell_?"

"Oh!" said Rin eagerly, oblivious to her friends wrinkled face and pinched nose, obviously in distaste, "I was cooking something in the kitchen, just a little thing I came up with. You can have a bowl of it if you want!"

"Um, don't worry about it, I just had dinner at my place," said Ayame hurriedly. She knew too well that Rin's concoctions were far from intolerable to inedible and poisonous (and her sense of smell confirmed it.)

Ayame seated herself on the opposite end of the table from where Rin sat, saying tentatively, "And Sesshomaru-san usually…_eats _your concoctions?"

"He hasn't minded them before," said Rin as Ayame thought, _He must have an incredible immune system to stomach that stuff._

"Oh, yeah!" said Rin, leaning back as she sat on the ground, her knees tucked under the short table, "you said you wanted to tell me something…?"

"Yeah, I did," said Ayame and stopped at that point. For a moment she continued to twist her hands on her lap, feeling her sweaty palms and biting her lower lips and looking down. Rin eyed her curiously. Then Ayame raised her eyes to meet Rin's and her friend found them incredibly wet.

"I'm worried Rin, I really am, I just can't…can't…" said Ayame miserably, continuing to twist her hands and feeling the moist sweat.

"What do you mean?" said Rin, seriously, "Did something happen?"

Ayame gulped in some air for a moment and then answered by saying feebly, "Not really…e-except…except that…you know Midoriko?"

"You mean, Sango's relative, Midoriko Imanishi?' said Rin.

Ayame nodded her red hair, saying, "yeah, her aunt on her mother's side. Well, lately…she's been calling a lot, I don't know why."

"When?"

"She first called last month and talked to Papa, asking about Sango and her schooling and stuff. Sango said she hadn't seen her since the funeral years ago, but she knew her pretty well. She didn't call for a while after that but than started calling again, talking to Papa and talking to Sango, Today she called about some of the schools in Okinawa…"

"Okinawa? Why, what for?" said Rin, shooting forward so that she was leaning over the table.

Ayame looked at her and suddenly her eyes closed, as if to refrain tears, "I…I—don't know…except that when Sango told me…she got really depressed…did you see her at school today? She was even more…d-depressed than when Midoriko-san called in the morning. I don't know what happened, but…"

Then Ayame turned her head away from Rin and she suspected that tears were beginning to fall down her face, for she was wiping her eyes with the back of her hand from what Rin could tell. Rin was silent for a moment as she waited for Ayame to compose herself, tolerating her silence but impatient; she wanted to know more, she wanted to know how Sango was. She wanted to know why this was happening.

Then Ayame turned back to Rin, her eyes a bit swollen but her voice more calm and composed than it had been before. She started to speak and her hands began to twist again on her lap.

"I don't know why, but Sango was depressed ever since she called and she said she was talking to her about how much she missed her and how the education and life was in Okinawa…I know…I know Sango suspects something and she's been really depressed…it got worse since today…and— I'm afraid, Rin, I'm afraid for her."

Ayame's swollen eyes were rimmed with tears and her sweet voice became tremulous. Rin looked at the table for a moment, still not lifting her face to look at her friend as Ayame continued, saying tearfully, "I'm afraid…Midoriko-san wants to take Sango away…to Okinawa, I'm afraid she'll take her, Rin."

"Don't say that, Ayaa," said Rin firmly but her expression and tone softened as she looked up to see Ayame's face. "…you're…you're really worried about this, aren't you?"

Ayame, unable to speak in fear of crying, shook her red-curled head.

"Well, don't worry about it Ayaa, I'm sure its nothing," said Rin, still not entirely convinced from her own words, "I'm sure its nothing, its ridiculous. You shouldn't get all frantic over this."

"I guess…you're right," said Ayame softly through tears. She wiped her eyes and cleared her voice, taking in deep breathes of air before she spoke again. "It's probably…nothing."

"Anyway, what did San say about this? How is she right now?" Rin asked after a pause.

"She's been a bit quite lately…but I think she feels better. She's been a bit brighter from what I can tell, but she was late to get home today." said Ayame, remembering Sango entering the house after she had settled in front of the television in casual clothing with a box of nishin-soba (herring noodles).

"She was brighter after she got back?" Rin asked a bit perplexed.

"Yeah…I'm not sure why though…she only told me she met someone. She was first depressed, then worse, and then she was a bit happier…"

"Who?"

"Hmm?" said Ayame as Rin cut her off.

"Who'd she meet?" said Rin, a guess placed in her mind and a mischievous grin spread across her face, "Was it Miroku-sensei, I'm sure that would brighten her spirits…"

"I'd say the opposite…" said Ayame quietly. "She doesn't exactly seem to enjoy him slipping a hand over her rear, now does she?"

"At least it's not up her skirt…"

"Rin!" said Ayame shrilly.

"What?" said Rin after her friends protest, trying to look innocent but having trouble concealing her mischievous delight.

"You've got just as a perverted mind as Miroku-sensei, I swear…" Ayame muttered.

"Well, was it him though?" Rin asked, changing subject easily.

"No, it wasn't," said Ayame, proving Rin's assured guess wrong and again beginning to twist her hands in her lap.

"What, it wasn't?" said Rin incredulously as if she had just been personally offended.

"Well, lately she's been pretty cold to Miroku-sensei, so I wouldn't think so," Ayame answered, trying to smooth Rin's ruffled feathers.

"Than who was it?" asked Rin, her mind bobbing with vague guesses but wanting to confirm them from what Ayame answer would be. But all her guesses, like the one previously from before, were incredulously wrong.

"It was Kagome."

For a moment Ayame looked at Rin, whose mouth was slightly agape and her eyes slightly wide. She was leaning over the table, as if reaching for something, as if she were trying to reach the words Ayame had just uttered but failing to catch them. Then she sat back and said for a moment numbly, "Kagome…? You mean…Kikyo's sister?"

Ayame nodded and added by saying, "Yes, she said she met her in the halls when the school bell had just rung…"

"She met…Kagome Higurashi?" said Rin, still slightly incredulously. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you, Ayaa?"

"No, I'm telling the truth!" said Ayame defensively. "Or at least what Sango told me…"

"You mean Sango told you that she met Kagome Higurashi?" said Rin, smiling slightly.

"Yes!" said Ayame, offended by Rin's grin like a preschooler would be when their parent grinned at them when they told them that they had seen a unicorn on their first day. "Don't give me that look, I'm telling the truth! I asked Sango why she had been late and she told me that been somewhere. She was talking more brightly than she had earlier so I asked her why and she told me she was talking with a friend. She said 'no' when I guessed that she had encountered Kikyo (and she was especially firm and red when I guessed Miroku-sensei,) and told me she met Kagome."

When Ayame stopped, Rin's smile slowly faded and she looked blankly at her red-haired friend. It took her a while before she said softly, "So, she met Kagome…what were the two talking about?"

"She didn't say," said Ayame, satisfied that Rin believed her.

"What do you mean she didn't say, didn't you bother to ask?"

"I did!" said Ayame, her satisfaction vanishing, "Why wouldn't I ask?"

Rin, leaning on her elbow against the table and looking eagerly at Ayame, asked, "Well, what did she say?"

"Well, she wasn't very clear…" said Ayame, gripping her skirt in her fist and twisting the light folds in her sweaty palms, "All she said was that she was talking about some things that…she said it was nothing and that I didn't have to worry about it."

"Well, what things were they talking about?" Rin asked.

Ayame bit her rich red lip and said her skirt still in her bawling hands, "I don't know, she just said 'things'. When I asked, she wouldn't answer me and told me not to worry about it, that it was nothing. But she was…happier… at least a bit. For the first time in a while, she actually talked during dinner. She had been so quiet before, I think she felt a little bit brighter."

After Ayame had stopped, she looked carefully at Rin and said quietly, "I think…she's nice…at least I think."

Rin did not answer her. She turned away from Ayame when she had finished and, putting her chin in her palm and her hand on her hip with her legs like a cat crouched on a window sill, was silent. Ayame nervously watched her until Rin said, a smile spreading across her face, "You know…I think I'll do just that."

"Do what?" Ayame asked nervously.

Rin looked at her, her eyes ablaze and a smile on her face as she said, "I think I'll meet this Kagome Higurashi,"

Ayame did not answer, nervously watching Rin.

"Hey, why are you so quiet?" said Rin, still smiling, "What happened to the sweet, fiery Ayaa I knew so well?"

Ayame didn't answer and the two both heard the door open and looked toward the door, seeing a man approach. He had long, silvery hair, so blond that it appeared argent and unnaturally golden eyes, cold and emotionless. He had thrown off his outer layer of clothing and wore a white, collared shirt, a tie over his chest and his suit's coat in the crook of his arms. His shoes had been kicked off at the entrance as he looked emotionlessly, not a single expression crossing his long, pale face at the two young girls sitting at his living room table.

"Oh!" said Rin, getting up, "Oh, Sesshomaru-sensei, you're back!"

Sesshomaru looked at Rin for a moment and then at Ayame, almost inquisitively.

"Oh, this is Ayame Hanakami, Sesshomaru-sensei. We were just talking and…"

Sesshomaru nodded coldly at Ayame and said, ignoring her and turning to Rin, "Is dinner ready?"

"Yes!" said Rin, "would it be okay if Ayame stayed for a while…?" 

"No, I should get going Rin," said Ayame nervously, rising and looking earnestly at her dark-haired friend, "I already had dinner and Papa is expecting me back."

Ayame crossed the living room, Rin behind her as she replied to her pleas with "don't worry, I'm full", "I already ate" and "I'm late as it is". Finally Rin stopped asking her if she would like to stay and got onto the porch in her socks, Ayame with her shoes tucked on. The light had faded and darkness had fallen, pierced by the glow of the moon through the trees. Rin could see the backdrop of smaller houses surrounding the large building in which she lived with Sesshomaru, the city only around the block. The cars were still whizzing through the streets and the neighbors' voices rose beyond their walls.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" said Ayame.

"Of course," Rin replied, closing the screen door as to not let any late-season bugs into the house. "Tell San-san I said 'Hi'!"

"Okay," said Ayame and walked down the steps and into the darkness, opening the door of the small car she had borrowed and turning the ignition on. She had drove clumsily out of the driveway (apologizing through the opened window about hitting the garbage can and nearly going into the mailbox,) and drove onto the road, hearing Rin call out as she left:

"Oh, yeah, say hi to your Koga for me too when you get back to your _love nest_!"

…

She didn't know him very well. Soon after Kikyo had switched with Kagome's help the vegetable garden into a flower garden, Inuyasha had only visited seldom. She had only seen him those few times when he came to visit the garden and Kikyo and only saw him few times more during school. He had only gotten into school barely, managed to get a small job and continue to live in his apartment because of his landlord, an old friend of his deceased father, Myoga. But she had rarely spoken to him, and their conversations had been brief. But she knew one thing about him.

_She never wanted to see that jerk again!!!_

Kagome didn't known what Kikyo saw in Inuyasha, at least any good. She hadn't answered Kikyo when she had gotten back from the gardens, asking insistently why she was so angry.

"_Oh, hi Kikyo!" said young Kaede as Kikyo got into the halls. Her jeans, patched in dirt and her hair sticking to her necks because of the sweat. _

"_Hi Kaede," said Kikyo, exhaustedly, "Is Sota in their too?" _

"_Yeah!" said Sota, pocking his head out of the doorway to see Kikyo. "Did you and Kagome get into a fight or something?"_

"_What?" said Kikyo, wiping her sweaty brow with the back of her hand while holding her dirty glove in her hands, "Why would you ask that?"_

"_Well," said Kaede before Sota could explain, his mouth still opened, "when she got back, she was late and she just stomped into you guy's room. We could hear her moan through her pillow."_

"_Really?" said Kikyo curiously._

"_Uh-huhn," said Kaede. "She looked really angry too, like she was fighting or something."_

"_Well, why was that?" Kikyo asked, looking into the room through the hall._

"_Beats us, that's why we asked you!" said Sota, using Kaede as an armchair._

"_Hey, oww, Sota that hurts, stop!"_

"_Well, it's your fault for being so short!" said Sota and Kikyo walked into the bedroom, ignoring Kaede's whining as she tried to push Sota's elbows off of her head._

"_Hey," said Kikyo as she entered the bedroom, looking at Kagome lying on her bed with her face buried in her pillow. Kikyo, throwing her gloves onto the floor, sat on her own bed beside Kagome's as Kagome did not reply._

_Kagome shifted from lying face-down to on her back and looked at the ceiling, her pillow hugged to her. _

"_Are… are you alright? Sota and Kaede said you weren't…feeling well," said Kikyo, unperturbed by the angry expression on Kagome's face as she glared at the ceiling._

_Kagome made no reply and turned on her side, away from Kikyo. She didn't want to reply, she didn't want to see Kikyo's maddeningly calm face when she felt like this. But she knew better than to say anything or it would come out in her anger insulting or childish. _

"_Are you feeling well?" Kikyo asked again, calm in her composure. She couldn't help but smile at her sister's childish anger and was therefore glad Kagome was not looking at her provocative grin._

_Kagome muttered something and then said more clearly when Kikyo hadn't understood her, "I'm fine."_

"_You don't seem fine to me," said Kikyo._

_Kagome still didn't face her. She was afraid of bursting out in anger at Kikyo's calm voice and yelling at her childishly as Kikyo remained calm, like a parent during their offspring's indignant tantrum. _

"_I'm fine Kikyo," said Kagome firmly._

"_What happened, Kagome?" said Kikyo, the smile vanishing from her features._

"_I already told you, I'm fine, nothing happened," said Kagome, trying to sound calm. She didn't want to seem angry; she didn't want to __**be **__angry. It would be childish and pathetic to get angry over such a small matter…but the 'small matter' as she thought of it immediately roiled her blood and made her burn with anger. It took everything she had to refrain form shouting into her pillow with anger._

"_I don't think its nothing, Kagome, what happened? Did something happen at school or something?" Kikyo asked. _

"_I told you, Kikyo, nothing happened, don't worry about me!" said Kagome firmly and turned on her other side to see Kikyo. But she had turned to see her at the wrong moment and caught Kikyo's 'look' on her face a moment before she hastily hid it._

_Kagome's blood roiled at this sight and then said loudly, "I told you that its nothing, you don't have the right to look at me like that Kikyo!"_

"_You know that I know it wasn't—"_

"_It was nothing, don't use that 'look' on me!" said Kagome, turning away from Kikyo again. She felt childish, pathetic…but her anger would not cease._

"_Please, Kagome, just tell me what—"_

"_I told you already, didn't I? I said it was—"_

"_What you told me was a lie, if you're acting like this then it wasn't—"_

"_What do you mean, 'when I'm acting like—"_

"_When you act like when you're angry, when something's hap—"_

"_I told you already, I'm fine, nothings—"_

"_C'mon, Kagome, please tell me wha—"_

"_I told you, it's—"_

"_And I told you I won't believe it's—"_

"_Well then you should believe, because I'm fi—"_

"_Not fine!"_

"_I'm fine already!"_

"_No, you're not, just tell me what—"_

"_I'm fine, it's NOTHING!"_

Kagome didn't know why Kikyo liked Inuyasha as she didn't know why she had cared for him, why she had loved him—

_That arrogant, self-centered, martial arts-crazy jerk!_ Thought Kagome bitterly as she walked with Kikyo to school the next day. That encounter with him, she resolved, would be the last. _I won't make you have to see this wench again…_

Kikyo said nothing, she was certain Kagome would not tell her what had happened. But she knew something had happened no matter how much Kagome tried to deny it. She walked at the same speed as Kagome through the streets, wondering what had happened.

Kagome never wanted to see him again; she never wanted to encounter him again! She wouldn't, she wouldn't see him! Her heart thudded loudly beneath her chest, her blood burned with anger as she thought about him. She had barely seen him in the garden, only a bit more at school, and their first argument she resolved, would be their last. But as she thought these thoughts, one vague thought clambered into her musings, a though she had once ran across in her bed that night.

What did she care for Inuyasha, why did she care if she every saw him again?

…

"That will be your assignment, students, and I expect all these problems to be solved by tomorrow, questions answered and explanations for how you reached your conclusion. Class dismissed."

Sesshomaru closed his thick book and the bell rang on. The class lifted as they grabbed their items and prepared for the break during study hall.

_Stupid girl, like it was her fight to interfere with!_

Inuyasha had been thinking about yesterday as he sat on his desk, chewing with his sharp canines on his eraser and his pointed chin digging into his palm. Just thinking about her made him angry. _That battle wasn't supposed to be interfered with, it wasn't her place to interfere! She should have just minded herself! It's disgraceful, being helped by a mere girl!_

But as Inuyasha thought, he remembered her face filled with anger, her arms firmly at her sides.

"…_And don't insult me, I was only trying to help you!"_

"…_Fine, this wench won't help you anymore!"_

As Inuyasha remembered this, he could feel the pain in her eyes, the anger, and the anger at _him. _And it hit him painfully.

_Feh!_ He though while shaking this abrupt and brief feeling off. _She shouldn't have interfered; I wouldn't have been beaten by Koga! It was her damn fault!_

But despite telling himself this, he could still clearly remember her words and what he had said to her. He could remember the feeling of hurt in her voice and face as she had hurriedly ran away from him. His expression softening and his eyes dropping, he bit into the eraser at the point where a chunk of it was chewed into his mouth and he spit it out, feeling the disgusting rubbery, leady taste.

_I wasn't…she's just like any other girl; I don't care if I hurt her, only Kikyo, only her! She's just a regular wench, interfering in a man's fight! She doesn't know anything_!

Inuyasha could feel the reassurance and the doubt in these thoughts. That's right…he only cared for Kikyo, no one else, not this girl, not her look-alike… he only cared for her…

Than how come in his heart there was a bit of doubt?

_Feh! It's true, I'm conceited as hell!_ Thought Inuyasha impatiently and he rose from his seat, his bag over his shoulder. He wouldn't think about any regret for what he said to that girl yesterday, only his anger at her interfering in his match, saying he would have lost to Koga.

Yes, it was her fault, all hers; she was like all the rest…

As Inuyasha got out of the classroom, he could hear voices, the familiar voices of Koga, Hakkaku, and Ginta. He turned to see them by the lockers, the right side of Koga's face padded with a bandage (to Inuyasha's pleasure, as he was grinning maliciously).

"I told you Ginta, Hakkaku, I'm not some wimp who would lose to these injuries!" Koga snapped to the two boys around him.

Both Hakkaku and Ginta flinched as Koga slammed the locker door loudly, the clatter resounding in the halls. Ginta, opening his eyes after tightly shutting them out of pain of the sharp sound began to whisper to Hakkaku and the two followed Koga through the halls.

Inuyasha began to walk through the halls, alone through the hoards of school uniform-clad students in suits of black and skirts of green. His bag was slung over his shoulder, the old beat-up strap barely still held together. As he passed, he could see students flood out of and fill the classrooms and as he entered the halls, he saw someone familiar at the lockers, trying to open the door as she held on one arm to her chest a stack of books staggering in height.

"Hey," said Inuyasha as he grabbed the books out of her arms, supporting them with ease in one hand.

Kikyo, surprised, looked behind her to see the white-haired 'hanyou' and smiled. It was half-forced, half-true as she revealed it, her pale-red lips curving in her smile.

"Oh, thank you, Inuyasha," she said, touching the necklace beneath her shirt of the bellflowers unconsciously.

"You know, you could've just put em on the floor while you opened your locker." said Inuyasha, as if explaining the obvious.

Kikyo grinned unblushingly and said, "Oh, yes, sorry, I wasn't really thinking…"

Inuyasha's face became a bit surprised and confused as she said this and Kikyo recognized this expression.

"That's not like you," he said, holding the books with apparent ease. "Are you…alright?"

For a moment Kikyo hesitated and then she said, touching her brow as Inuyasha recognized as a rare characteristic, "Yeah, I'm fine…just thinking too much about something."

"'Something'?" said Inuyasha, looking inquisitively at Kikyo.

"Yes," Kikyo answered as she opened her locker and drew a book from inside, holding it to her chest, hugging it. For a moment she hesitated once more and then, looking back to Inuyasha with her calm hazel eyes after staring out into a classroom, said, "You know…my twin sister Kagome, don't you Inuyasha?"

As Kikyo said this, Inuyasha's eyebrows rose into his silvery bangs and he felt a pang at her name. He quickly concealed this expression of surprise and Kikyo was thinking too hard to notice it. The books in his arms staggered.

_Stupid, why the hell do you care!_ Thought Inuyasha to himself angrily and answered Kikyo with, "Yeah…why?"

Kikyo, biting her lip and lowering her eyes beneath her dark lashes, said after much hesitation, "I don't know, but from what I know of Kagome….I don't know, but I think something happened."

"What do you mean?" Inuyasha inquired another _pang_ sent to him as he brushed it off. His heart was rapidly thudding and he couldn't even tell why.

"Well," said Kikyo nervously, her teeth still on her lower lip. For a moment she considered telling Inuyasha and then resolved on it. She was nervous, more than she had been before the bet when she was with Inuyasha and her heart raced when she spoke to him. _If you want to figure out your feelings for him, you ought to be able to talk to him!_

"Well….I know Kagome, she's a really good person but I think something happened. She wouldn't tell me why and she kept on telling me it was nothing…but I could tell, I just could even though she kept on denying it that something happened. She was really angry…"

And Inuyasha could feel his heart rapidly beat and he could hear it in his ears.

"_Fine, this wench won't help you anymore!" She had screamed at him angrily and stormed away as fast as she could._

It was…his fault, wasn't it? He tried to conceal his expression as hard as he could and tried to listen to the rest of what Kikyo was saying, but only a few words registered in his brain, the fragments of the sentences like "she was really angry", "something must have happened", and "I could tell it wasn't nothing".

So she was still angry, was she?

"…_And don't insult me, I was just trying to help you!"_

"…_won't help you anymore!"_

Inuyasha could feel her word sting him. He could see her face so vividly in his memory, angry and hurt. He could even see the wetness in her eyes that soon turned to the tears rimming her lashes. And he could feel regret.

_No!_ He thought, shaking his head. _I don't give a damn, it was her fault! All her damn fault!_

But these words barely reassured him. She was still angry; she had been hurt by _him_. By him…he had angered and hurt her. Why the hell did he care? Another person, one of the many who filled the streets, an ordinary person, an ordinary girl… She didn't care.

"_Well I did interfere with it, to help you!"_

Inuyasha remembered these words barely through his anger that she had interfered, that she had disgraced him, and he remembered her face. And he remembered shaking away the doubt as she had long been lost from sight after running away from him, leaving him alone in the streets.

_It was your fault_; _she was hurt because of you_; _she's still hurt by you_; _it's your entire fault again._

_NO! No! I don't care, I don't care! All I've ever done is hurt people; she's just one of the million!_

And Inuyasha snapped back into reality when he heard Kikyo say something, her chin in her hand and her eyes lowered thoughtfully and concernedly: "I hope she's okay, but she won't tell me what's wrong. I know it must have been something bad, because she wouldn't tell me and it looked a little like she had been crying."

Inuyasha heard her words and regret filled him. Doubt, regret, and denial. What did he care for her, what did he care, he had hurt a lot of people, he had lashed out at millions, and he didn't give a damn; only his mother, only Kikyo, and no one else.

Then why did he felt since the first time he could remember that he had done something wrong?

"Oh," said Kikyo, bringing Inuyasha out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry, I'd better be going. I just hope Kagome's better."

Then Kikyo grabbed the books out of Inuyasha's arms and put them on the floor as, one hand over the pendant beneath her shirt and one on Inuyasha's shoulder, she leaned over to kiss him.

But as with one hand she brushed away the silver hair at the side of his face, her hand felt like it had caught fire and her eyes dilated. Her lips almost touching the skin of his face, she drew away hurriedly. Inuyasha looked at her, confused, and she looked back at him and said through her fingers, "I'm sorry!" and ran away from him, disappearing from sight through the halls.

Inuyasha watched her, bewildered, her books still on the floor and her locker still open, as she disappeared from sight, running as fast as she could after retreating from kissing him, apologizing and running away.

…

Kagome sat at a table, the room mostly empty, shafts of light cascading from the windows. Before, she had hesitated in the bathroom, looking at the mirror that reflected the abandoned stalls and the tiled floor.

Her hair, as always, was messily tied into a nest at the back of her head, her curved figure was hidden beneath her thick sweater and long skirt, and her face wore dullness and an uninviting look.

For a while she had only made faces in the mirror, moaning, "aww…should I…no…no, I shoul….no, I shouldn't…aww!"

The dare had only just crossed her mind. If she had to be herself, she had to show her true self; the girl who hated to imprison her long, shining, wavy, raven-hair in a clip and loved it to flow free on her back and shoulders; the girl who hated to wear the extra layer of clothing over her body just to hide her figure; and the girl disliked forcing herself to avoid people, hide her radiant face and fill a need for friends and company, with loneliness. She hated that girl, but she couldn't stop her. She estranged herself from people, hid what would attract people to her, and made people ignore her. She didn't want to be neglected…yet she wanted to more than anything in the world. That's why she hid how she looked. She never thought she was beautiful, but Kikyo and Kaede had many times insisted it (Sota had ignored them, excluding himself from their girl stuff).

She never thought of her appearance before; she had always thought she was ugly and Kikyo was beautiful, and she still believed that. But she had still hid how she looked, how she truly looked and liked to look from people in fear of being judged to Kikyo and to disappoint people again. If she was truly 'beautiful', it was just a bait to lure people to her, like fish to a worm cast on a hook on a line. And then their hopes would be killed. She wasn't better than Kikyo; she wasn't prettier, she wasn't kinder, she wasn't more talented, she wasn't more helpful, she wasn't wiser, and she failed in comparison.

So she hid everything, anything; anything that would make people come to her and makes people compare her to Kikyo. She hid her true self because she didn't want to be unwanted. She didn't want to disappoint people and be disappointed. She didn't want people telling her again and again that Kikyo was better, that she should be more like her, that she was nothing compared to her.

But she hated tying up her hair and she hated wearing all that damn hot clothing and she hated avoiding people.

_C'mon Kagome! _She thought angrily, looking determinedly into the mirror_. If your gonna win this bet, your going to have to be yourself, and therefore show your true appearance, the way you __**like**__ to look!_

But Kagome just continued to moan in front of the mirror and couldn't bring herself to change how she looked; she couldn't bring herself to free her hair like she so wanted to or to take of her sweater or look inviting and warm.

Therefore Kagome sat on a table, secluding herself from groups of students working together, looking as she always did. She looked dully down onto her papers, moving her pencil and she bit into the eraser, trying to think.

But she could only think of more disappointment. She didn't have the courage to change how she looked to the way she wanted to, she couldn't.

Gripping her messy bangs in her fists and tugging at them angrily, Kagome moaned and thought, _I'm never gonna change, I'm never gonna win this bet!_

"EEEPP!"

Kagome and other students turned around to see a girl on the floor, crouching hastily as she retrieved the thick sheaves of paper from the ground…or what remained of the once neat sheaves. Biting her lip to refrain from swearing, the girl grabbed at the papers from the big sheaf.

Kagome rose from her seat to help the girl and crouched besides her, handing her a couple of sheets of paper.

"Oh," said the girl, turning up to look at Kagome's face and revealing her own; it was Rin. "Oh, thank you for, um, for helping me."

"No problem," said Kagome and she continued to gather the papers.

Her scheme had worked well, Rin knew it did. _Now lets see…_ she thought, glancing frequently up from gathering the papers to look at Kagome.

Rin had offered to transfer this stack of papers to the empty printer and copier, taking this route to the office in hope of meeting Kagome. She knew how she looked; similar to Kikyo, though there were differences. And, when she found her working in the study, she purposely dropped them, making it seem like an accident, to draw Kagome to help her. Ayame was right; she was kind enough to help her, from what Rin could perceive. Or it could have been an act to be polite.

Kagome's hair was tied at the back of her head, meaning to look as if it had been tangled and turned by the wind, never touched by comb, and so wild it was barely contained in its tie. Her bangs were messy, strands of long hair from her back falling over her face. Rin could see Kagome trying to hide her expressions, being calm, composed, polite, and evasive, trying not to look Rin in the grace; for Rin's gaze was so penetrating and calculating, Kagome feared it could look into her thoughts.

Kagome hid her expression behind a wall of seclusion and coldness. She made her hazel eyes, usually warm, cold; and her face was hard as stone. Her figure, curved and slim, was made uncharacteristic by her thick sweater, hiding her body from eyes and her legs veiled by her skirt. But Rin could see through a vague portion of her. But only just that.

Rin scooped up the last of her papers and held the staggering stack to her chest after Kagome had handed her the portion she retrieved.

"Oh, thank you so much!" said Rin, smiling.

Kagome had turned away from her, facing the wall and looking coldly over her shoulder through slightly narrowed eyes. She did not reply. But Rin was determined.

"Well," said Rin, holding the stack with the corners of worn-out papers sticking out of it, "You're nice. What's your name?"

Again. Here it was again, someone telling her that. It was because she let herself help, against her will she tried to help someone. And here it was again.

Kagome muttered something.

"Hmm?" said Rin, smiling inquisitively.

"Kagome…Higurashi," said Kagome softly, still avoiding Rin's gaze.

"I'm Rin Miyazawa," said the dark-haired girl, smiling.

For a moment the two girls merely stood there, Rin looking at Kagome over her stack of paper and Kagome coldly over her shoulder. This girl could see her, barely…but she could. She couldn't let her see her; she had to act as she always did; cold, indifferent, and uncaring.

Then she felt a jolt of surprise as Rin dropped the papers onto the table nearest her and grabbed Kagome's wrists, saying, "Come with me,"

"Hey, what—"

But Kagome was cut off as Rin dragged her through the halls at a running pace, narrowly avoiding and occasionally brushing the shoulders of students. Kagome tried to break herself free of Rin's grasp, but to no avail and they continued to run.

"Hey!" said Kagome to Rin, still trying to keep up with her fast pace, "Hey, what—what are you—"

The bell rang loudly.

"Oh, it's lunch!" said Rin as they kept on running. "Then come on, you'll eat with us!"

"No—wait—" But Kagome could not finish as Rin sharply rounded the corner. Her shoes' soles skidded across the waxed floor and only Rin's firm grasp on her stopped her from slipping. The halls flashed around her and soon she was out of breath. She could se student flash by her; she could see everything whir around her.

"Oh, here we are!" said Rin, no where near as breathless as Kagome was presently and they climbed up the stairs to the rooftop. The open door was the only light on the stairs, the light that slipped through the door ajar. Kagome was thinking rapidly as Rin continued to drag her.

"Wait!" she said, breathing hard, "Why—why are you taking me?"

"Because," said Rin, her back still turned to Kagome and Kagome heard her words clearly, even though her brain was filled with thoughts, her ears with the clattering stairs: "you helped our Sango; I haven't thanked you yet for that."

Kagome asked no more, nor did she have the time, as she and Rin reached the door and were sent through it. The light wan blinding, so painful. Kagome put her hand over her eyes, Rin still loosely grasping her wrist as she breathed in deeply. The fresh air felt good to her lungs, she was exhausted from running. But as she looked around, Rin turned to her and said, Kagome's mask falling for a moment, "C'mon, Kagome, you'll eat lunch with us!"

…

Kikyo lay against the tree, facing away from all the other students, breathing in deeply. She had avoided going with Rin, Sango, and Ayame and she lay on the soft grass of the school grounds. With her dark bangs covering her eyes, she tightly squeezed her peach in her hands, her nails sinking into the fuzzy skin and juicy flesh.

_Then Kikyo grabbed the books out of Inuyasha's arm, putting them on the floor, with one hand on her pendant beneath her shirt and one on his shoulder as she leaned forward to kiss him. As she brushed away his silvery hair, her hand felt as if it had caught fire. She quickly drew back to Inuyasha's bewilderment, her lips so close to the skin of his face, saying, "I'm sorry!" and ran away from him._

_Inuyasha watched in utter confusion as Kikyo disappeared from sight through the halls, her books on the floor, her locker door still opened after she had retreated from kissing him, apologized, and ran away. _

She put a hand to her face as she remembered it, heat in the form of blush coloring her skin. She covered her face with her hands. And she remembered the thing that drew her away from him and made her run, run away:

_She had seen midnight hair and a long, pale face_.

**Okay, so that's the end of the fourth chapter of Lovely Mask and I hope it was enjoyed. So now Kagome's meeting Kikyo's group, had a fight with Inuyasha, Kikyo's still trying to sort out her feelings for Inuyasha, and Inuyasha has to sort out his feelings for both of them.**

**Next chapter explores the teachers more, which I planned to do in this one but wanted to do it a bit later, so please continue to read and review!**


	5. Chapter 5: Doubt And Love Behind A Mask

**Okay, next chapter coming up and I hope you enjoy! There are no demons, Mikos, half-demons, etc. in this story!**

"Come on, you'll eat with us today!" said Rin, tugging at Kagome's wrists.

Kagome finally managed to pry herself free of the girls grasp, Rin looking at her as she turned her face over her shoulder, saying, "Look, I don't know what I did, but it was nothing, don't thank me."

Rin looked at her curiously for a moment, Kagome staring away, her eyes narrowed, certain this girl would leave. Until she felt her grasp her wrists again and began to pull her across the rooftop of the building.

"Hey—wait, didn't you—" said Kagome, slightly frantically as she once again tried to free herself.

"Yes, I did hear you, but I'm gonna thank you anyways," said Rin, not facing her but her shoulder-length hair bobbing, catching the light.

Kagome began, "Look, I don't need or want your thanks—"

But she was cut off as Rin, turning a fraction so that a bit of her profile could be seen looking at her, said to her: "Don't you get lonely, always by yourself?"

"…"

Kagome didn't answer. But as Rin caught her eyes, her mask slipped beneath her upper face and she could tell her answer.

"Oh," said Rin aloud and began waving to a group of students in the distance. She caught the eye of a red-haired girl, who waved to her back.

"That's them," said Rin and she and Kagome began to walk toward the group of two girls, eating against the railing of the rooftop. Kagome said nothing, but she immediately wanted to stop walking to them, with _this girl_, and run away. Rin wouldn't let her go.

"Hey!" said Rin as she and Kagome made their way through throngs of students to the corner of the rooftop, with the two girls.

"Hey, Rin," the Ayame answered, lifting her hand while still clasping a plum in it. "I already bought lunch," Ayame explained as she pointed to the group of wrapped foods and juice boxes on the floor by her lap, "we're just waiting for Kikyo, I don't know where she…"

But Ayame stopped short of her sentence, for she just realized the girl Rin was with and reddened. Kagome looked away from her flushed face, not facing any of them and not wanting to meet any of their eyes.

No one said anything, the only sound but of students talking beside them while eating, chatting and laughing, in green skirt or black uniforms.

"Kikyo hasn't gotten here yet," said Sango to break the awkward silence in with the abashed Ayame was staring at the floor, Rin looking toward the distance at the students eating on the grounds below, and Kagome looking away from all of them.

"Really?" said Rin, turning away from the grounds to look at Sango.

"Yeah," said Sango, taking a juice box from the group of lunch good and poking a straw into it, sucking the juice for a moment before continuing with, "I didn't see her at Study hall either; we were supposed to meet to discuss Onigumo-sensei's assignment."

"Oh…I was supposed to meet with you two too, wasn't I…?" said Rin guiltily, smiling with her tongue sticking from her mouth, her hand at the back of her head.

"Yes, you were!" said Sango, as firmly as she could manage while sipping from the straw, "you know Ayame's the only one that's finished the report, you were supposed to be with us."

"Yes, yes, I know," said Rin, half-guilty, half-joking. For a moment she merely smiled before pulling back her hand from the back of her head and withdrawing her tongue into her mouth. Then she said, looking at both Ayame and Sango, "But I had to pick up something first. Now," Rin released Kagome's wrists, still eyeing her as if she suspected she would make a run for it when freed of her shackles, "This is Kagome Higurashi."

Kagome said nothing in reply, because Rin's introduction was not necessary. Everybody had known Kagome Higurashi, at least who she was:

She was neither infamous of famous in the school: in fact, there was nothing remarkable about her, except that she was the twin sister of the popular Kikyo Higurashi. But people thought nothing of her besides that. She was merely a blank, a nothing in the school, in the society. She wasn't remarkable, she wasn't friendly, and she wasn't anything: the only one who knew her was Kikyo and she was only known because she was related to Kikyo. That was all anybody knew about her; no one encountered her, no one wanted to see her, no one cared.

_She was a blank. _

Nobody knew the true Kagome and those who approached her were brushed away, turned away, their words and being unacknowledged, and their very being ignored. No one tried to talk to her: they only wanted to be with Kikyo, the girl who had everything, the girl who shone such a bright light that Kagome was extinguished. If they had Kikyo, they didn't need Kagome. After all, who wouldn't pick the first rate item over the second best?

Therefore, Kagome barely existed at the school. She made no remarkable achievements in class, the teachers didn't acknowledge her mediocre papers, nor did she ever answer a question or raise a hand. No body but Kikyo noticed when she was absent and nobody noticed when she was there. If they did, they ignored her. Why go for the second best when the first was in your reach? Why go for the second-rate Kagome when you could go for the top, the highest, the most popular and first-rate Kikyo?

Kagome never acknowledged anyone in return. They were all shadows to her as she was a ghost to them. No one noticed, no one cared. No one needed Kagome Higurashi. Not when they had Kikyo.

At first Sango had thought this, she knew the nothingness of this strange girl. But she knew she was wrong.

_You showed me that yesterday, Kagome…the true you…maybe just a bit…maybe just a bit, you opened your heart up to this pathetic girl and showed her who you are…maybe just a bit._

"I wanted to thank you, Kagome," said Rin, turning to her while Kagome still looked away, "for helping my Sango,"

Rin looked at her as Kagome still looked away, looking both flustered and wishing to leave. Rin smiled.

"Well," said Rin, sitting down and forcing Kagome down to onto the rooftop, "come on, let's eat; it _was Ayame's treat_, we don't want it to go to waste!"

…

Kagome sat silently, looking at the group of girls. She vaguely knew everyone of these girls, but she didn't know them well. Kikyo had introduced them to Kagome once and she had brushed them away, looking away from them with dull indifference.

Ayame was the young girl with red hair, brilliant as the color of rust, her long hair falling in curls away from her pale face and wide-green eyes.

Rin, with shoulder-length dark hair and a slightly darker complexion, smiled as she talked to Sango, laughing with her fiery, deep-brown eyes.

Sango, whom she had met yesterday, looked with her modest expression at her friend, her long hair falling down her back in a ponytail and her red-rimmed eyes occasionally turning to Kagome, who blushed and turned away.

But the center of the group seemed to be Kikyo. Kikyo seemed to be the girl who held everything in motion, who, albeit was the quietest and the least opinionative, held the group. She was talked to, never saying anything unkind or intentionally displeasing, always smiling with her soft smile, laughing with her brief giggles, pushing away her long, straight, shining hair with her delicate hand, and quietly watching them. _I wonder where Kikyo is…_ thought Kagome as she looked around the girls. Rin and Sango were discussing Kikyo's whereabouts, Rin surmising (with an obvious all-knowing and envious air) that Kikyo was with Inuyasha ("well, he is supposed to be her boyfriend, he should be around her at least _once in a life-time_!"). Sango was deep in thought, listening absentmindedly as Rin went on, saying occasionally, "sure, Rin," "maybe so," and "uh-huh, uh-huh…"

But it was apparent to Kagome that Sango was thinking hard. She was…different than the other girls, if only a bit. She seemed to know a bit more about the _true_ Kikyo than they did, but she acted as always, looking modestly at Kikyo's false form.

"I just hope she's okay," said Ayame, seated next to Kagome and frequently casting her wide-eyed, fearful yet curious, looks.

"I'm sure she's fine, its not like Yashie called her up to dump her for some other girl, not Kikyo." said Rin, with an all-knowing air.

"I don't think that's what she meant, Rin," said Sango quietly as she fingered through her white-rice with her chopsticks.

"Of course it what she meant!" said Rin and, taking a fearful Ayame's shoulders and saying, "I know my Ayaa well enough, her minds prone to think about these things with Koga on her mind…"

"RIN!" said Ayame, reddening drastically.

"I think you'd better leave it at that, Rin," said Sango.

Rin laughed, Ayame looked flustered, and Sango merely watched, her mood still darker than it had been before. Kagome looked at them, quietly. She felt out of place, like a white horse tossed into a group of zebras, like a dead, withered flower in a group of beautiful blossoms. She watched them and felt even more and more unneeded in this world.

They had invited her into their group to be nice, nothing more. She was no more a friends to them than she had ever been, she was unneeded by everyone, anything. Their world still revolved without her and her being their only seemed to perturb the orbit.

_If Kikyo were here, it would have been different…_

"What do you think, Kagome?"

Kagome was brought out of her thoughts and awakened to see Rin and Ayame looking at her, Sango from out of the corner of her eye.

"What do I…?"

"About Kikyo and Yashie," said Rin, looking at her while placing her chin on Ayame's head bent beneath her.

Kagome was silent for a moment and Sango said, "Rin, I don't think this is really…"

"Come on Sango, Kagome's her twin sister, she lives in the same house as Kikyo, she'll know!" said Rin, with the air of explaining something obvious. Then she looked back at Kagome, smiling and said, "What do you think about Kikyo and Inuyasha?"

"They don't seem to be around each other much…" said Ayame quietly under Rin, like a hand under its owner's chin, "I'm not really sure…"

"Well, I'm sure if anything had happened between them, Kikyo would've told us Rin," said Sango assuredly, but in her voice there was a shade of a lie, of pretending.

"I know, San-san," said Rin huffily, "but I'm sure there's _something_ going on. Plus, it's always fun to guess about this stuff!"

Kagome looked at them silently, trying to keep her eyes on the floor and the juice box she was holding.

"Anyway, just because you're not interested in relationships, San, doesn't mean that we all aren't!" said Rin.

Kagome's eyes feel upon Sango and she noticed a shade of darkness fall upon her face. An almost unnoticeable depression and sadness fell over her, darkening the air around her, a darkness Kagome could feel that only she could tell. But Sango smiled, almost bitterly, and said, "…you're right, I…don't care about that stuff."

"But what do you think Kagome?" Rin asked, turning away from Sango, seemingly oblivious to her shade of darkness.

Kagome was thinking about her discussion with Sango the other day and did not answer. But Ayame covered up her silence by saying, "Rin, I'm sure Kikyo's alright if she said so…"

"But she hasn't said she wasn't, and you can just tell," said Rin with her usual haughty air.

"Tell what?" said Ayame, removing herself from under Rin's head.

"You can tell that there's something Kikyo's not telling us," said Rin, smiling, and Kagome looked at her. She knew she had said it about the relationship jokingly as she seemed to always do, but…

"Well, you still haven't answered me, Kagome," said Rin in her usual peppy, strong voice, "what do you think about Inuyasha and Kikyo?"

Kagome turned to look at her and then looked at her feet. She was thinking, thinking about how Inuyasha and Kikyo had been acting with one another the past few times, about how they barely encountered, about how Kikyo was trying to avoid him and her feelings for him, about Inuyasha himself…

And angered boiled in her suddenly, an anger so abrupt that it slipped past her disguise and it took everything she had to conceal it. Her hands clenched the folds of her skirt and she bit the inside of her mouth. The anger boiled in her blood and it wouldn't stop; anger that wouldn't cease.

_How can Kikyo love that man, that arrogant, self-centered idiot!!!_

"I'm…sure their doing fine," said Kagome, struggling to keep her voice indifferent and calm.

As she answered, Ayame looked at Rin and said, "See, even Kagome says that their fine Rin, we shouldn't worry about it."

"Are you sure, Kagome?" said Rin, almost pleadingly as she turned to face her, "Are you sure their, you know, still together and stuff?"

"…"

"…yes," said Kagome after her first pause and she looked at the ground, saying with difficulty to dam the anger from seeping into her words, "I'm sure they're fine…after all…why would Inuyasha want anyone other than her…?"

_Yes…I don't care what you do, I don't care if you think I'm a wench, you only need Kikyo and I only need myself…_

But even as she thought this, she was stung by her own reassurance. Who cares if he didn't care for her, who cares if he only cared for Kikyo, who cares if she didn't? She didn't care, she didn't even want to think about him…did she?—no, she didn't!

"Why would…" said Kagome and she felt her thoughts overwhelm her. Yes, it was true. But, even though she tried to deny it, depression crushed her as she said it; "Why would…he love anyone but her…?"

There was a moment's silence in which Kagome looked away, her bangs hiding her eyes, her whole being refraining from shaking. Sango looked at Kagome, Ayame fearfully eying her and Rin at the same time, and Rin looking silently at her hidden eyes.

"Yeah," said Rin, almost painfully, "I guess he wouldn't like anybody other than Kikyo…after all, they've been together forever."

Rin's words reassured her, even if they stung her. She was right, after all. He only cared for Kikyo. She didn't care fro him and he didn't care for her.

"But it would be more fun if something was happening!" said Rin, almost yearningly.

"Sure, Rin," said Sango, quietly and darkly.

"I think it's good that everything is still good with them, even if it isn't as exciting," said Ayame.

Kagome looked at them, knowing it was true. He didn't care, and she didn't care, she never would. Kikyo and Inuyasha would soon sort out things, soon enough, they would, she knew it… besides, Inuyasha couldn't like anybody else, and Kikyo could only love him…there was no doubt about it…

…

Kagome looked away from the mirror when she entered the bathroom, unwilling to look into the glass. As she washed her hands, the cold, cool liquid streaming through her hands and the soap frothing up her the pools in her palms, she could hear the school bell ring. The day had ended, as it always did. There was nothing new, there would be nothing new; even the bet wouldn't change that, it wouldn't change the way the bell rang or the way the day ended as it always did. Drying her hands as she turned the knob of the faucet and grabbing her bag as she slung it over her shoulders, Kagome opened the door of the public restroom.

They had left, as everyone did. They had invited her in to be polite and they had left her, going away, distancing themselves from her as everyone did. The class had ended; she had gotten more homework; she had received the god-damned math assignment, the one she knew she would fail; and she had gone away from them. Nothing was different. She probably wouldn't have the courage to follow through with the bet and Kikyo would again fall madly in love with Inuyasha and he would continue to love her. _Another thing she's beat her in. _

Kagome grabbed the books out of her locker and forced them into her bag. Her books were no different, these people were no different, and she was no different. Yes….

Kagome looked away and she saw students talking and laughing amongst one another. Yes…they were laughing without her, being without her. She was a blank against them. She was blank to them; nothing was remarkable about her; Kikyo was the one remarkable.

Kagome felt the wind brush her face as she stepped out onto the grounds, without seeing Kikyo nearly all day. She walked back home, alone, without anyone. No one said anything to her. She left. She was right after all, no one cared, no one noticed. Yes no one noticed.

But they had noticed as they left, the rooftop clattering beneath their feet.

"_See ya later, Kagome!" said Rin, waving her hand and smiling._

_Sango said softly, a bit of the gloominess fading from her, "good-bye," and Ayame nodded her head, the three girls leaving the rooftop and Kagome alone, with only the promises of meeting again in her hands._

…

"Hey, what are we having for dinner?"

Sota and Kaede raced down the stairs, Kaede beating him by a hairsbreadth and running up to Kagome.

Kagome, who seated on the floor with her head in her hands, looking hopelessly at her math homework, raised her head and said, "I don't know, I'm doing my math right now."

"And I'm helping," said Jii-chan, sitting by her with Buyo curled (_he wasn't really helping, more like making it more confusing but convincing himself that he was helping anyway_, thought Kagome miserably as he said this.)

Kagome, her hair falling past her shoulders and her legs crossed in her jeans, once again put her head to the table and relished the feel of the cool wood against her over-heating head, vaguely the conversation beside her("Kagome doesn't look so good…" said Kaede worriedly. "Are you sure you're helping her, gramps?" asked Sota.)

Kagome could smell the scent of food in the kitchen, arousing within her as sudden hunger. It smelled unfamiliar to her, as if she hadn't caught it scent in a while…

"Hey, Kikyo's making okonomiyaki," said Sota, poking his head into the kitchen to discover the scent.

"Really? Kikyo hasn't cooked in a while." said Kaede, joining Sota by the kitchen door.

The words finally registered in Kagome's head and she shot up, sending her book crashing to the floor, Jii-chan waking from his sudden nap, and Buyo pricking up his ears and his hair fizzing up. Sota and Kaede jumped as Kagome raced over to them, peeking into the kitchen and then running into the room, sending the door slamming in her wake.

Kikyo whipped her head around to see her, her hair held up in its ponytail bouncing on her shoulders.

"Oh," said Kikyo as Kagome approached, sending her hand over her sweaty forehead and patting her floury apron. Kagome was silent for am moment, looking over at Kikyo and the cooking implements set by her.

The kitchen was small, and Kagome saw Kikyo had opened the only window right by the counter and over the sink. The screen showed the night dappled with stars and streaked with dark clouds, hidden by a branch of maple.

"Y-y-y…you're…c-cooking…?" said Kagome after a while, looking back from Kikyo to the pan upon which she was cooking.

"Yes," said Kikyo, looking at Kagome's astonished face, "Is that so much of a surprise?"

"Yes!" said Kagome, looking at Kikyo almost as if she had never seen her before. "You absolutely hate cooking."

Kikyo managed to hide the vein popping in her head and returned to chopping cabbage on the cutting board, careful to avoid her fingers beneath the edge of the large knife. Kagome watched her, almost too astounded to speak.

Then she said, forcing the words out of her mind and mouth, "W-why are y…you cooking?"

"What do you mean 'why'?" asked Kikyo as she continued to chop the cabbage, sending the smell of the fresh vegetable into the air.

"I mean 'why'," said Kagome, still looking at her and a bag of flour, a package of fish, and a spatula beside her.

"I…just felt like it," said Kikyo, looking away from Kagome.

The clatter of the knife against the wooden cutting board filled the stretched of silence between Kagome and Kikyo. Then Kagome, biting her lip and thinking hard, said quietly, almost so softly that her words couldn't have been heard.

"D-did…..did something happen, Kikyo?" said Kagome softly in a whisper.

The clattering of the knife against the cutting board stopped. Kikyo, still holding the wooden handle, did not turn to see Kagome. Kagome looked at her anxiously, dreading the answer and asking herself furiously why she had asked.

Then to her amazement, Kikyo turned her head to her, smiling and laughing loudly. Kagome looked at her, confused.

"Ha ha…why would you ask that, Kagome?" said Kikyo, laughing. But Kagome knew that this wasn't her true laugh, it wasn't the real, soft, and brief laughter of Kikyo. Kagome now knew that her fear was true.

Kikyo put her hand over her smiling open mouth, apparently trying to seem as if struggling to cover up her laughter, and continued to giggle.

"I'm fine Kagome…I don't know why you ask…ha ha…what a weird question," said Kikyo, her laughter fading and her hand dropping from over her mouth. She couldn't help it; Kagome might have known, but she couldn't stop.

Kagome looked at her, nervously, holding her hands, clenching the fabric of her long shirt. "Are you sure you're…"

"I'm fine, Kagome!" said Kikyo, grabbing a package of meat from the counter. "What a weird question…"

Kagome looked at her. Her hazel eyes full of worry and her hair sticking to the sides of her face from the heat of the pan, she said, venturing on, "Kikyo…if there's anything wrong, please, please…please, just tell me…"

"There's nothing wrong, Kagome, I'm fine, and I'm just preparing dinner is all!" said Kikyo, her laughter gone and only her sweet, loud voice continuing.

Kagome looked at her, unable to hide the fear in her eyes. But even as Kikyo saw them, she was still laughing and smiling, and she said, almost as dumbly as could be managed giggling, "What's up, Kagome? You look so—"

"Please don't talk like that Kikyo, you know why I look like this," said Kagome, timidly but firmly. She clenched her shirt, her fingers tracing the sweat of her hands onto her jeans. Kikyo still looking at her, she said, "Please…what's wrong?"

"I should be asking you that!" said Kikyo, laughing loudly and sending a shiver up Kagome's spine. "You look sooooo worried!"

"Kikyo, don't talk like that, please!" said Kagome firmly, the quivering in her voice quickly fading. She looked scared but determined. She knew something was wrong, she could tell by Kikyo's voice and her laughter. And her eyes dared not meet her worried hazel ones.

Kikyo looked at the cabbage sitting, all shredded and chopped, up on the cutting board and continued to smile. "I'm fine, Kagome, really, I am!" she said. Her voice was sweet, too sweet as if it had been glazed in honey and powdered in sugar. It was glazed and sweet, covering the ugly item inside. An ugliness that took all the sweetness to hide. "I'm just worried about _you_! Look at you, so worried! What's up?"

She didn't pursue it longer. She felt stung by the sweetness of her voice, hurt by the dulcet rings of her voice. Kagome looked silently at Kikyo's back turned to her as she threw the cabbage into a bowl and tore the plastic off the meat package. Trying to hide the hurt, anger, empathy, and sympathy in her voice, Kagome said in a whisper, "…nothing…It's nothing."

Kikyo looked back at her after a while, seeing her vanish through the kitchen door and out of sight. And the smile immediately faded from her face and the familiar sight of her down-cast eyes and smile-less lips filled her. The soba bubbled for a while in a pot, the water boiling with the noodles inside. She was silently standing by the counter, thinking, not hearing the noises outside of Kagome complaining about her math to Jii-chan, Jii-chan explaining how it related to the tale he had heard of the four daimyo, Sota plucking at Buyo's floppy ears and Kaede playing with his tail.

She hated cooking, she always had. It was never an appealing exercise to her, but only Kagome knew how much she disliked it. Years ago, when Kikyo was still in middle-school, their mother had been searching for a job. She had been a full-time part-timer than, working so long she couldn't come back until one in the morning. Because Jii-chan couldn't cook, the two Higurashi girls, meaning Kagome and Kikyo, were forced to cook and create meals for the family together. Kikyo hated it. She hated it because she simply hated doing the subject. She loathed it. But she never said anything against it, becoming the doll to her mothers use, becoming the tool to her aid, without feelings.

During that time, she met Inuyasha. She remembered the first time she met him, when she had gone into the garden to gather some vegetables for the late-dinner they were having. She remembered walking down the steps, inwardly cursing that she had to be in that kitchen, with Kagome, with the girl she envied so much and yearned to be. And she remembered hearing a noise.

She had noticed that vegetables had been vanishing form the garden, as did her sister and mother. Since that had happened, she kept watch from the screen door, squinting through the darkness, to catch a glimpse of the thief. She never moved and barely breathed when she saw him leave. She never, though, caught a glimpse of him clearly, only seeing him jump through the bushes and leave. Until the one day.

_Kikyo exited the house, cursing the food, cursing the stench of it entering her nostrils, cursing everything. She hated it! She hated nothing more, nothing more except for herself. Kicking the wall and cursing to herself, she grabbed the basket in which to gather the vegetables and headed to the door. The cool night air wafted from the screen door, a light flickering from the eaves. The she heard it. The sound of rustling. The sound of crunching. The sound of snapping. Someone was in the bushes._

_**It's him again!**__ Thought Kikyo, the sudden thought rushing to her. Her heart leapt, pounding loudly under her breast. She could almost surmise that its loud beating could be heard not only by her. Shaking, adrenaline filling her quickly, Kikyo held the basket tight and hurried closer to the door. She waited a moment before approaching the door, in fear that he might see her and that he might flee. She wouldn't let that happen. NO, she wouldn't let him flee from her again. She waited by the door, her thoughts racing, her heart madly pounding. She could barely hear anything around her, it was all drowned out by her thudding heart, pulsing veins, and stirring thoughts. She could only hear that and the continuous sound of crunching amongst the bushes. _

_**No, I—I can't…I can't do it, no I…!**__ Thought Kikyo, pulled between going into the garden and remaining here as she always did. Always watching him leave, always watching them going. _

_But, gripping the wicker of her basket tightly, Kikyo opened the door. It opened swiftly, but as the screen door was pushed ajar, the hinges loudly creaked. Kikyo stopped immediately. Her mind was racing, but her heart was loudest and most painful._

_**Damn it, damn it!**__ She thought angrily, holding her breath and trying to stop her madly quivering body. She didn't even know why she was shaking or why she was thinking so hard. But she held her strained breath and listened closely. The footstep, so soft already, had stopped so that they assuredly could not be heard. _

_**Damn!**__ Thought Kikyo as they had stopped, like a rabbit chewing on clover blossoms until it realized a moment before it quickly flees that someone was watching. He was gonna leave…that was it, he would never come back…he knew someone was watching, he wouldn't come…no he wouldn't come!_

_That meant know she had to try. Before he left, forever out of her life. _

"_Is someone there?" Kikyo asked into the darkness, fully opening the door. As she said this, she was amazed by the calmness of her voice, considering the mess inside her. _

_She saw the silhouette of the boy through the bushes as she grasped a candle from inside, the only one light by the window. _

_The cold breeze cooled her and she felt a sudden shiver. __**Why the heck did I decide to wear my nightgown during dinner? I knew I would be going outside, it's too cold to wear something that barely reaches my ankles and is as thin as paper!**_

_But Kikyo tried not to mind this. Was it him? Was it him behind those bushes, was it him there again? Would he be there or had he already fled? But, as Kikyo prepared to call out again, she saw his silhouette and a trace of the long silvery hair through the bushes. She sighed with relief. So it was him…  
_

"_So you are here," she said and she entered the garden._

And all had begun then.

Soon, her mother had acquired a job and Kagome and Kikyo were no longer forced to cook the meals for the family. Kikyo hated it but…it was one of the connections she had with Inuyasha. Kikyo remembered as soon as Inuyasha no longer need the garden, she was no longer cooking and could plant flowers in the soil instead of tomatoes or cucumbers.

He was with her…he always was…

But as Kikyo thought this, as she pulled back her head and rather faced the open night sky under which she and Inuyasha met than the ceiling, she felt nothing but an emptiness and emptiness she could not fill.

_Than why had she pulled away from him…why had she seen that single face?_

…

He turned around. The night was thick, but his thoughts were thicker, flooding with memory and thoughts. His thick, silvery hair was strewn around him on the floor, as he lay on the floor beside the bed, in his sweatshirt and baggy jeans. The window flooded with light that poured over him, cut into four individual squares by the frame.

Inuyasha cracked open a golden eye, heaving himself up on his side on one elbow to look at the window and let the thin shadow of the frame fall across his face. He couldn't sleep; he couldn't even raise himself up; his mind was too thick with thoughts.

"_Just a bit, mother?"_

The city was framed against the window, showing in box-like shadows filled with squares of light. The clouds were as thick as his thoughts and hid the moon from view.

"_Just a bit, my love."_

Inuyasha looked through his golden eyes into the night that shown through his window and he could see the streets before his, the alleys, and every nook and cranny.

_Izayoi looked at him lovingly, pulling her thin coat higher over her small shoulders and smiling. Her dark, long hair was pulled into a bun, with a tail of long strands falling from it past her shoulders. _

He could barely remember it, but he thought_ it had been twilight at that time, the sun setting and painting the sky with the colors of bright orange, pale pink and bright red._

_The park was small, between the suburban land and city. As Izayoi walked over the wooden ledge her shoes, so worn and old, crunched over the woodchips and the stray strands of grass poking through into the area. _

"_Aren't you cold, Inuyasha?" she asked to the young boy ahead of her, alone in the park._

_She walked closer to the swing set, the old metal chains held on the bar of the set creaking. She touched the old metal, feeling the rust beneath her bare fingers, and looked at the small boy. _

_He had jagged white hair, falling barely past his shoulders and wild from swinging to and fro nearly the whole day. His face was smiling softly, his golden eyes looking at the tree branch over him of which he was trying to kick with his feet, swinging higher and higher. He was nearly laughing, his silvery hair flying everywhere, as he clutched the chains of the swing and kicked up and back, going higher and higher into the air. _

"_Look, mother, look, I can swing on my own! Look!" said the young boy excitedly as he swung to and fro._

_Izayoi, smiling, said as she perched herself on the wooden board of the swing and clutched the chains in her hands, "Wow, I didn't know you could swing on your own, my love."_

"_I can, I can! Look, I can almost touch that leaf!" said Inuyasha as he continued to swing, aiming to kick the foliage on the branch before him. _

"_Yes, you can," said Izayoi, smiling at her son. She caught a loose coil of long hair in her fingers and pulled it behind her ears, looking at her son with her gentle expression. _

_Inuyasha continued to swing higher, still endeavoring to touch the branch with the tip of his shoe. His wild hair flew around him as the wind caught him while he swung. Izayoi watched him all that time, smiling and holding her hands in her lap. _

"_Look, look mother!" he said excitedly in the air, "I touched it, I touched the leaf, did you see?"_

"_Oh, I did!" said Izayoi, loud enough to reach him through the winds whistling over his ears. "I'm so proud of you, Inuyasha."_

_As he touched the leaf several more times, Inuyasha soon began to stop kicking into the air and let his legs fly freely around him. Soon he descended low on the swing, his feet touching the woodchips beneath him. Izayoi watched him swing beside her, stationary as she sat on the stiff swing. Soon Inuyasha kicked his heels into the woodchips to stop and sat, swaying lightly, on the swing. His mother turned to him and touched the side of his face, saying, "You're face is cold, Inuyasha. We should leave soon, its getting chilly."_

"_No, no, lets stay a little longer, please!" said Inuyasha, turning to see her once her hand retreated back into her lap. _

_Izayoi looked at him and said, "…Its getting late, love, we really should get in before it gets too cold."_

"_But it's not that cold!" said Inuyasha, determined to stay._

_Izayoi looked at him, and again ran the back of her hand over his cheek, saying as she did so, "I know you want to stay, Inuyasha, but we really should go before it gets too late. Come on, Uncle Myoga will get worried if were too late."_

"_But mother—!" Inuyasha started but Izayoi drew the scarf around her neck and placed it on Inuyasha, where it slid on his small shoulders and covered the lower half of his face completely so that his frosty breath trickled out of the woolen cloth._

_Izayoi smiled as he fought against the scarf, pulling down at it until his nose poked out from over it. As he did this, Izayoi noticed something at the side of his face._

"_What's that?" she said, reaching out to catch his face in her hands. _

"_What's what?" asked Inuyasha, his voice muffled beneath the scarf. _

_Izayoi took in her hands his face and turned it over to her, to see it clearly. As she saw it, Inuyasha's already pink cheeks and nose from the cold reddened more. _

"_Inuyasha…" said Izayoi quietly as she let go of his face, her hands falling to her sides and her expression calm but her voice serious. "Did you get into a fight again?"_

"_It wasn't my fault!" said Inuyasha, turning to her defiantly as if she had accused that he had insinuated it._

_Izayoi looked at him, her gentle eyes full of partly concealed worry and her silence careful. Inuyasha turned away from her, not wanting to look at her face or let her catch sight of him any longer; her stare burned him and he wished the scarf had reached up and covered his ears, so that he could not hear anything and her concerned silence. _

"_Inuyasha…" said Izayoi softly, her voice soft, filled with not reproach, scolding, of rebuke, but concern. _

"_I told you, it wasn't my fault!" he said loudly, still not turning to face her. He didn't want to see her concerned face; he felt horrible when he worried her, he felt like the worst when he heard her concerned voice. _

_Izayoi was silent for a moment and then said softly, trying to keep her voice gentle and almost an whisper, "Inuyasha…you know…you know I don't like it when you fight. You know you shouldn't—"_

"_But they started it!" said Inuyasha loudly to the wood-chipped floor._

"_It doesn't matter who started it," said Izayoi, placing her hand on his shoulder; his shoulder burned at her touch, and he yearned to shake it off. "What matters is that you don't fight, even if it wasn't you who started it."_

"_But—but—"said Inuyasha desperately, trying to convince her that he was innocent, "But it really wasn't my fault?"_

"_Were they making fun of your hair color again?" Izayoi asked gently, her hand still on her son's shoulder. "Was that it?"_

"_But they were saying that we were dirt, that we were as bad a filth!" said Inuyasha to his feet touching the ground._

_Izayoi was silent for a moment, only looking at the back of her son's head, and touching his shoulder. She could feel it shaking so softly, trying so hard not to quiver._

"_They said…th-that you shouldn't have d-disgraced the Takahashi name…they said that father was a sh-shame too, because he married you," said Inuyasha, his voice soft and tremulous. _

_Izayoi watched his, her hand yearning to wipe away any of the tears turned away from her. _

"_Th-they were calling you a w-wench…I couldn't l-let them do that." He aid quietly, so soft that Izayoi almost couldn't hear him._

_As these words reached Izayoi's ears, she looked at Inuyasha for a moment longer and then held him to her, laying his head against her breast. She could feel his body shake beneath her arms, and his voice so softly say, "I-it isn't fair…that they can c-call you that… that th-they can call us that. Why are they like that…?"_

_Izayoi held him, feeling the few tears he shed on the cloth over her chest and his saying in his muffled voice in her arms and scarf, "The-they called you…f-filth and a wench…I c-couldn't let them do th-that…!"_

"_Oh, Inuyasha…" said Izayoi as she held him to her. She held him for a while, letting him merely shake in her arms and shedding no more than several tears, until he pushed himself away from her and wiped his eyes and nose with the back of his sleeve. _

"_Oh, my love…" said Izayoi, touching the small scratch on his cheek and looking at him with gentle, soft eyes. "I know…you were just helping me…but you shouldn't fight; I don't want you getting hurt for my sake."_

"_I was just helping you," said Inuyasha quietly, his bangs hiding his swollen, golden eyes. _

_Izayoi looked at him and then held him again, saying, "my poor Inuyasha…my poor child. Thank you…for trying to save me…"_

Inuyasha remembered that day, the bright colors of the sun, sky, and trees falling against them in that autumn season. And he could remember his mother holding him, stroking his silvery hair, and whispering words into it.

"_I was helping you."_

Inuyasha's golden eyes snapped completely open, looking out into the darkness of the night as he lay on the floor.

"_Well, I did interfere, to help you!"_

Inuyasha shot up on his elbow, supported by his folded arm. He didn't even know why he remembered it or why he remembered it now, but…

"…_And don't insult me after I tried to help you!"_

_She stood there, her hands at her sides, her dark hair falling over her as she was before him, out of breath to intercept Koga's blow. Tears rimmed her eyes, barely visible as she tried to hide them._

Inuyasha could not see the moon beyond the clouds outside the window, or the silhouette of the city.

"_I don't need you're help, wench!" He said angrily._

"_The-they were calling you a w-wench…I couldn't l-let them do that…"_

Inuyasha sat, his torso heaved up and his eyes wide as he looked into the night. He remembered it vaguely and the words they had called his mother: 'wench' and 'filth'. And he remembered what he had said to her as he stood in the streets, looking at her angrily:

"_Well, I don't want your help, wench, just looking at you makes me angry!"_

_And she stood before, him, her expression blank. Then she shouted back, the tears springing visibly in her eyes and the hurt and anger in her voice, "Fine, then this __**wench**__ won't help you anymore!"_

"_The-they called you…f-filth and a wench…"_

Inuyasha could numbly remember him saying this, as he sniffed and let the seldom tears from his eyes. And he could remember himself calling her this, and letting her run with hurt and anger in her voice.

And Inuyasha stood still, insensibly, numb, and wide-eyed. The he dropped to the ground, his arms spread loosely before him, his hair tangled beneath him.

"Damn…" he said, remembering her shouting it at him, tears partly hidden in her eyes, "what the hell did I say to her?"

Inuyasha lay on the floor, thinking, trying to tell himself he cared nothing for it, nothing for what he had said, and that he cared nothing for her. But he remembered her face and his words, and he lay, turned against the floor, his golden eyes reflecting no light in the darkness.

…

**Well, this is the 5****th**** chapter of **_**Lovely Mask**_** and the last chapter for a while. I'm sorry to say I'll be putting it on hold for a while, because it should've been started a while later when I wasn't in the middle of another story. **

**I really hope I'm not disappointing people too much (I'm sure I'm not, I'm not the best writer out there, hehe...) so I'm really sorry, but I'm sure I'll be picking up the story again, and not too late. But read some of the other stories of AnimeGirls and I hope you continue to enjoy our works, and hopefully this story when it's back up for updating again.**

**Don't be angry!**

**-Noname**


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